-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's poorest and socially underprivileged people seem to have benefited the least from a set of government programmes launched over the past decade to reduce personal expenses on health care, research suggests. A team of health economists has found that the financial burden of health care on India's poorest 20 per cent, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims has outpaced that on the richest 20 per cent and...

-The Hindu Business Line   Most Indians are not aware of, or responsive to, the issue. For this, the media is squarely responsible The Ministry of Environment and Forests is now the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Including climate change as a key component in the title of the ministry is all very well, but how do we envisage taking climate change and its everyday implications to the masses? A 2011 Yale...

-Economic and Political Weekly How will the amendments to the Factories Act affect women workers? How do women view the "protections" and night work? Apoorva Kaiwar (akaiwar@yahoo.co.in) is a labour lawyer and consultant on issues of gender and labour. The central government is proposing to amend several labour laws. The process of amending them has been underway since 2011, which means that it is not only the new dispensation that is eager to...

-The Pioneer Korba/ Raipur (Chhattisgarh): The initiative, such as free distribution of textbooks, uniform, scholarship and Midday meal, taken by Chhattisgarh Government to promote education has enlivened hope of a better future, not only among the children but in their poor parents also who are working hard to make both ends meet. When the students of primary school run in the slums of the city were told by their teachers that they...

-The Economic Times Last month, union tribal Minister Jual Oram told the Lok Sabha that India is making "satisfactory progress" implementing the " Forest Rights Act" (FRA). However, a closer look at the numbers he submitted in the house indicates otherwise. The FRA is one of the three rights-based legislations passed by UPA1 -- along with the National Rural Employment Guarentee Act (NREGA) and the Right to Information ( RTI) Act. It...