‘Beggar type.’ Like most of us, Smita Jacob had never come across that pithy official phrase before. It’s a classification in the records of the police of New Delhi, India’s richest city, used to describe a dead homeless person whose death is too insignificant to investigate. The police are as sensitive as you and I to the cripple on the pavement, the child at the car window. They mean no...

Against the backdrop of allegations about under-utilisation of funds in the Northeast, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today bemoaned this trend, while claiming that the current Union government has made allocations to the region like never before. “All I can say is that our government has increased very substantially the allocations for the development of infrastructure in the northeastern region. I think the amount of money that we have allocated has...

India’s record in providing education to its children has been very poor. Low education levels have an impact on income, productivity, health status and standard of living. As per 2001 Census, the overall literacy rate of India is still only 65.4%, with many states having a literacy rate less than the national average. While the male literacy rate is around 76%, only about 54% females are literate1. What is important...

The Centre will allocate additional quantities of wheat and rice for ration card holders at rates lower than the minimum support price (MSP), but higher that the issue price, under the public distribution system. The allocations would be made from June. At the same time, the government on Wednesday allowed export of wheat products like rava, sooji and maida, much in demand by expatriate Indians, for a year till March 31,...

Despite numerous special schemes and financial allocations, tribal communities in Hunsur taluk lead a life of poverty, marked by severe malnutrition. In Bettada haadi in the taluk, tribal residents grapple with appalling health conditions. Eight people in 28 families have tuberculosis, five have died in the past six years, and many others are malnourished and anaemic. They live in dilapidated houses that lack sanitation. Defunct borewells, broken pipes and non-functional streetlights...