Although the focus of erstwhile UPA and the present NDA government has been to achieve higher economic growth by reaping the 'demographic dividend', a recent report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) informs us that a substantial chunk of the population underwent ageing during the last 60 years. The report entitled Elderly in India: Profile and Programmes 2016 from CSO (that comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation) shows...

-News18.com The US State Department for Human Rights in its report for 2015 has slammed India for its record on encounter killing and has observed that judicial corruption is widespread in the country. The report also mentioned the Malegaon case the allegation is that the National Investigation Agency was "going soft" on Hindutva elements over the Malegaon blasts case. The report said there were 555 “encounter killings,” by security forces and police between...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Projected work under the rural job guarantee scheme for 2016-17 is down 10 per cent after a rare boost in the last financial year, suggesting a tightening of the purse strings following a year of heavy expenditure on the programme. The rural development ministry has approved the generation of 217 crore person-days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, following last year's approval for...

-BBC Not so long ago, Birubala Rabha believed witches existed. Assam: Growing up, neighbours often told her about evil women, or daini (witches) skulking in the village. Ms Rabha was six when her father died, forcing her to drop out of school to help her mother, a farm worker in India's north-eastern Assam state. She was 15 when she got married to a farmer. Ms Rabha mostly stayed at home, weaving and looking after their...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The NITI Aayog will draw up schedules for key social sector programmes to counter the criticism that implementation has been slow even two years after the Narendra Modi government took over. The Aayog's Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant made several outcome-based presentations to the Prime Minister last month on sectors such as education, health, rural development and infrastructure. Timelines have been established to achieve progress in areas...