-Economic and Political Weekly The government has notified a Draft Land Reforms Policy which, on paper, has all the requisites of an earnest programme. Yet, the near total failure of earlier efforts at land reforms in India leave little room for hope that something substantial will at last be done to combat landlessness. Harsh Mander (manderharsh@gmail.com) is with the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, and works with survivors of mass violence,...

-The Indian Express     A degree of targeting is useful in ensuring that policies are effective in reducing poverty. But we have to be careful how this is done. With the right policies, India has a good chance of seeing accelerated poverty reduction in the coming decades. As I have previously argued, this will require that India does a better job in reaching the country's many poor people through its social policies. However,...

-The Hindu Overcoming son preference in India remains a daunting challenge as even educated women are prone to it Have women fared better than men, and girls better than boys in the last decade or so? In the din over a dramatic reduction in poverty in the period 2009/10-2011/12 that is unlikely to die down, deep questions about the discrimination and deprivation that women face from the womb to the rest of...

-The Hindu Eminent sociologist Virginius Xaxa will be chairman of committee If UPA-I constituted the Sachar Committee to map the condition of Muslims in the country, on Saturday, UPA-II set up a high level committee on Saturday to prepare a position paper on the current socio-economic, health and educational status of tribals that will also "suggest policy initiatives as well as effective outcome-oriented measures to improve development indicators and strengthen public service...

-FeministsIndia.com In the last six months or so the small community of feminist scholars cum activists has been hit by major losses: in February Lotika Sarkar who was among the signatories protesting the Mathura judgment that initiated a new and hugely important phase of the women’s movement passed away; at the end of May Vina Mazumdar who spearheaded the parallel women’s studies movement also passed away. But at least we had...