National Infrastructure Equity Audit conducted in 125 gram panchayats in five States There is a continued prevalence of deep-rooted caste-based inequity in the contribution and availability of infrastructure and, hence, of the Accessibility of services and entitlements, a report has suggested. The Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and minorities do not have Access to functional infrastructure facilities as they are ‘merely situated in the general or backward classes habitations,' according...

In an attempt to bolster its aam aadmi image, the government is setting up the Aajeevika Development and Financial Corporation, a financial institution to ensure easily available funding for self-help groups under the National Rural Livelihood Mission. Problems in Accessing credit for families below poverty line have been a major hurdle for the livelihood mission. The rural development ministry is in the process of inter-ministerial consultations on the proposed financial...

A move to announce the viewer ratings of news channels once a month – rather than the current weekly announcement – has spurred opposition from advertisers as well as some channels. The media research agency which releases the ratings has refused to implement the change until it receives written consent from all stakeholders. The decision to shift from weekly to monthly ratings for all national news and business channels in Hindi...

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress today expressed “serious objections” to the proposed bill against communal violence, saying the current draft undermined the country’s federal structure. The BJP said it would intensify its campaign against the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Regulations) Bill, 2011, emboldened by the objections of other non-Congress parties, although none backed its pet “bias against Hindus” line. ( ) Mamata did not attend the National...

Each day, one thousand women die in childbirth and one million people become infected with sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including 7,000 cases of HIV. Yet these numbers are preventable, experts insist, when countries possess the resources and willpower to address and deal with them. Dignitaries and high-level officials gathered this week to discuss reproductive health commodity security (RHCS), or, simply put, ensuring that people have Access to essentials of reproductive health...