-The Hindu More needs to be done to enforce the law banning manual scavenging. This monsoon, India's Parliament passed a law of enormous social significance prohibiting and punishing manual scavenging, which remains the most degrading form of untouchability and caste discrimination in the country. This is not the first time this practice was outlawed: untouchability and forced labour were forbidden in the Constitution itself and, in 1993, a law was first passed...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today launched a Housing scheme for slum dwellers in the city, ahead of the civic polls here in December. The project will be developed under the Centre's Rajiv Awas Yojana scheme and predictably, the BJD leaders present at the event chose to remain silent on this. One Housing project was launched at Mahishakhala behind BJB College at a cost of Rs 46.93 crore, while another was...

-The United Nations United Nations independent experts today called on Indian authorities to immediately halt the construction of a massive steel plant in the eastern state of Odisha - formerly known as Orissa - which threatens to displace more than 22,000 people Jagatsinghpur District and disrupt the livelihoods of thousands more in the surrounding area. "The construction of a massive steel plant and port in Odisha by multinational steel corporation POSCO must...

-The Hindu Says State government is doing a stellar job to ensure social security and welfare of the poor THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said here on Monday that the UPA government at the Centre and the United Democratic Front government in Kerala would work together to provide a responsive government and fulfil the aspirations of the people. She was inaugurating the first phase of the distribution of title deeds to...

-The Hindu Gram sabha at Taraimarh adjourned due to lack of quorum as villagers stay away Taraimarh (Chhattisgarh): On a wet and windy Saturday evening nearly 350 km north of the State capital, Raipur, a non-descript village registered a historic victory against Bharat Alumunium Company Ltd (Balco), an affiliate of India focused global miner, Vedanta. While the Dongria Kondhs turned up in large numbers at the gram sabha to emphatically reject Vedanta's...