-PTI The maternal mortality rate in West Bengal has dropped sharply by 20% due to health reforms in the state, latest statistics say. Quoting a latest survey report prepared by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the health portfolio, told PTI that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) rate has fallen to 117 per 1 lakh childbirths during 2010-12. The figure during the...

-The Telegraph The Centre has announced sweeping changes in rural employment scheme NREGA ahead of next summer's elections, promising family members of job cardholders more benefits and faster payments besides including new projects. Most changes are aimed at reducing payment delays, described by beneficiaries and activists as the bane of the UPA's showcase welfare plan. A highlight of the revamp is a plan to engage a family member of an NREGA worker as...

-The Hindu     Insufficient number of classrooms, unusable toilets, no playground Chennai: Fifty-three percent of Adi Dravidar schools are functioning without sufficient number of classrooms in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu, according to a recent study conducted by Samakalvi Iyakkam, a movement for child rights. The Samakalvi Iyakkam-Tamilnadu conducted the study on 90 Adi Dravidar Welfare Schools in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Vilupuram districts. In several places, as the boundaries were...

-PTI Kolkata: Retired sex workers from Asia's largest red-light district of Kolkata's Sonagachi, who are forced to live a life of penury after falling out of favour with customers because of advanced age, would soon be rehabilitated in a new home. As part of the West Bengal government's plan to rehabilitate disabled, sick and old sex workers living in Kolkata, two buildings would house the rehabilitation centres which would have all facilities...

-The Hindu There is no disparagement of subsidies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh because those who attack the Social welfare policies of the Congress regard them as examples of good governance by a party of the Right Three propositions dominate explanations of the Congress party's rout, the Bharatiya Janata Party's impressive victory and the Aam Aadmi Party's stunning success in Delhi in the recent Assembly elections. One, that there is a strong...