The Union government's efforts to provide quick and quality insurance services to 38 lakh rural landless agricultural labourers in the state under the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) have suffered a serious setback with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) refusing to renew the scheme. The LIC's decision has not only resulted in hardships not only to the poor households over the past six months but also to the children...

In a few days from now, women could account for 52 per cent of all local bodies. They are tailors, farmers, accountants, legal clerks, homemakers, vendors and activists. There are M.Com degree holders alongside poor women from deprived backgrounds. Together, they make up the most highly educated women candidates fighting local body elections anywhere in the country. There are nearly 40,000 of them contesting the polls across more than 1,200...

The state government is all set to introduce a scheme to check the problem of iodine deficiency among pregnant women. This deficiency is known to cause grave consequences to newborns, ranging from mental retardation, brain damage to lower IQ. Under the new scheme, expected to roll out by January next, free iodised salt will be distributed to pregnant women. Iodine is a vital micronutrient, and is consumed mostly through salt....

The Millennium Development declaration was a visionary document, which sought partnership between rich and poor nations to make globalisation a force for good. Its signatories agreed to explicit goals on a specific timeline. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set ambitious targets for reducing hunger, poverty, infant and maternal mortality, for reversing the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and giving children basic education by 2015. These also included gender equality,...

School education boards across the country are planning to change their examination patterns to shift the focus from testing rote learning to assessing critical thinking. The Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE), an apex body that has all school boards as its members, today met in Ajmer and discussed the need for examination reforms. It decided to set up a committee to study the examination patterns followed by different boards...