-The Hindu The Centre will soon implement Phase II of the Rajiv Awas Yojna with a focus on providing long-term and bankable property rights to slum dwellers, Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken said, soon after taking charge of his new Ministry on Tuesday. Talking to journalists at his office in Nirman Bhavan, Mr. Maken said the Centre will adopt the twin strategy of funding and “mandatory reforms” in...

-Pratirodh.com The fanfare with which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched a service delivery scheme in Rajasthan based on the Aadhaar (foundation) unique identity (UID), and celebrated the issue of the first Aadhaar number topping the 200-million mark, should make the Indian National Congress a very worried party indeed—assuming it has a good survival instinct and basic grasp of practical politics.    To put it starkly, the Congress and...

-Outlook Newly-appointed Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken today said the state governments would be asked to issue an executive order to provide property rights to slum dwellers till the Model Bill on the issue is passed. Soon after taking charge of the ministry today, Maken told reporters that a Model Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Bill, 2011 will be passed at the earliest and the states would be...

-The Hindu The government has approved a Rs. 4,038 crore programme to tackle the Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome in 60 priority districts With thousands of young lives being lost and an equal number of children rendered disabled for life, the government has prepared a comprehensive strategy to tackle Japanese encephalitis (JE) and acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). The dreaded disease has already spread to 17 States affecting 171 districts. With the Cabinet...

-The Tribune India is governed by a written Constitution and any policy decision, programme by the Central or state government must be within the constitutional parameter of the Constitution. The State under our Constitution is mandated to protect the human rights. Any government policy, which seeks to shift this responsibility from the state to the private sector, would be, without anything more, unconstitutional and hence impermissible. The United Nations, since its inception, has...