Child sex ratio (CSR) in India has declined from 927 in 2001 to 918 in 2011 (girls per 1,000 boys), according to a new report entitled Missing Girls: Mapping the Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India (Census 2011). Of the total 640 districts in the country, 429 districts have experienced decline in CSR (see the link below).   Of these 429 districts, 26 districts exhibited drastic decline (of 50 points or more),...

-The Indian Express Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Mani Sahu's first baby, born at Bilaspur's Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences Saturday, did not survive even 72 hours. He was among 16 infants who died within days of birth in the last week at CIMS. While some had low birthweight, others died due to lack of medicare facilities. However, while the number of babies admitted in the hospital continues to go up and the child ward...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A government panel that evaluated Muslims' post-Sachar socio-economic conditions has suggested an anti-discrimination law, targeted mainly at employers, to combat the growing disparity between the community and the rest of the country. The committee, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Amitabh Kundu, has failed to detect any "sea change on the ground" despite several welfare plans being launched for the community after Sachar's late-2006 report. Like Sachar, the Kundu...

-The Hindu Guguloth Shanthamma, from a small hamlet in Mangalavaripet, left her hard-hearted husband behind to start a new life; she now runs an eatery Warangal (Andhra Pradesh): When life takes a beating, many surrender. But not Guguloth Shanthamma who left behind her hard-hearted husband to start a new life that promises security and happiness. Hailing from a small hamlet in Mangalavaripet of Khanapur mandal, she rose up to become a successful entrepreneur...

-The Indian Express On the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, memories of the victims' suffering surface once again. One is at a loss for words to describe what happened on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984. Was it an accident? Or was it industrial genocide? We will never know what it was, since no investigation was conducted on what caused water to leak into 41 tonnes of higly toxic...