Daily News Channel
Reports that "virginity tests" were conducted on would-be-brides for a mass wedding has prompted India’s federal woman rights watchdog to launch an investigation. But a district magistrate said the tests were simply “clinical examinations” that were initiated after one of the brides gave birth at a previous mass wedding. In largely-conservative India, pre-marital sex remains a taboo
India’s lower house of parliament elected a woman as its speaker Wednesday, a first in the male-dominated chamber’s history. Meira Kumar is also a member of the “untouchable” Dalit class, the lowest rung in the centuries-old caste system in the country.
Despite predictions of a close race forcing an unstable coalition government, India’s Congress Party on Saturday claimed a major victory in national elections, leaving it with enough parliamentary seats to form a government with only minimal support from other parties. Congress is expected to win 205 out of 543 seats, according to India’s Election Commission, garnering 124 million votes. So how does Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plan to use the electorate’s strong mandate for his second term in office?
Narendra Modi embodies the incongruities of Indian politics. The three-term Chief Minister of Gujarat has made his state perhaps the most prosperous in a country already tapped for greater and greater growth. Gujarat has been enjoying growth rates of 10% or more , with some of the largest businesses in the country operating in its territory, providing the average Gujarati a mean income significantly higher than the national average