They demand comprehensive law which recognises all rights of persons with disabilities A group of persons with disability staged a demonstration here on Wednesday demanding a comprehensive law which recognises all rights of persons with disabilities. They also boycotted the State-level consultation on the working draft for new legislation for Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011, organised by the National Institute of Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities and the...

In a move that would increase women's representation in politics, the Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to increase women's reservation in local body polls from 33 to 50 per cent. Bill The decision comes a day after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said a Bill proposing 50 per cent women's quota in local bodies would be introduced in the coming Budget session of the legislature on March 14. Between November 2011 and...

Social priorities have received scant fiscal attention There is good reason to feel let down by this year’s budget for the advancement of social sectors. The disappointment is more given that the Union finance minister opened his speech by stating that “we are reaching the end of a remarkable fiscal year” and followed it up by immediate assertions that “growth in 2010-11 has been swift and broad-based”, that “the economy...

Jairam intervenes after Nitish tells him that he is opposed to such trials Even as the moratorium on commercialisation of Bt brinjal stands, Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to immediately withdraw its permission to Monsanto for field trials of Bt maize in Bihar. Bt brinjal was the first, and maize is the second food crop for which the GEAC has given...

Budget 2011-12 belies hopes of effectively addressing the housing needs of the poor. It fails to provide the much-needed impetus to improve the supply of affordable housing for economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG), particularly those who live in the urban areas. About 99 per cent of housing shortage pertains to these two socio-economic categories. In absolute terms, by the end of 2012, the deficit will be as...