The provision on non-discrimination under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 will not apply to private employers, whether individuals, partnerships, proprietary concerns or companies (other than government companies) or unaided Schools, the Supreme Court has held. According to Section 47 ‘Non-discrimination in government employment', no establishment shall dispense with, or reduce in rank, an employee who acquires a disability during his service: Provided...

Study based on better data, more sophisticated statistical methods Among poor countries progress varied considerably The improvements represent “hope at last” For the first time in decades, researchers are reporting a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980.The findings, published in the medical journal The Lancet, challenge the prevailing view of maternal mortality as an intractable...

“She was thrown in the garbage dump outside the village for dogs that ate her. Her only fault — she was the fourth girl born in a poor family,” said Harshinder Kaur, paediatric doctor here, recalling the first time she witnessed discrimination against female infants in Punjab's rural side. “Over a decade ago, I couldn't save that infant and ever since I try to speak for the girls who never...

If you want to understand why the Maoists grow stronger, watch frail Shyam Charan Kisku, 5, as he keeps hunger away by nibbling at a wild berry called Kendu on a hot April afternoon. Kisku and 40-odd children in this scraggly village of mud-and-thatch homes, 180km south-east of Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, did not get their free lunch this day under the national mid-day meal scheme, the world’s largest cooked-meal programme. Kisku’s mother,...

Maoists in the Indian state of Bihar have apologised to students for blowing up their School buildings. More than 25 School buildings have been razed to the ground by Maoists in Bihar over the last year - at least five have been destroyed in the past week. The rebels said it was necessary to destroy them because they were being used as camps by the security forces. On Tuesday, rebels killed...