-The Hindu In 1951, a year after India became a republic, only 18.33 per cent of its 35.11 crore citizens could read. According to the 2011 census, 74.04 per cent of its 121.02 crore people can read. In 60 years, 83.12 crore Indians learnt to read. School enrolment is at an all-time high with several surveys putting primary enrolment at above 96 per cent. However, India is still below the world's average...

-The Hindu India's growth story of the last two decades has had one recurring theme: that the pattern of economic growth is accentuating insecurities. Yet, there continues to be a deep divide over whether the gains from growth ought to be ploughed back to achieve social security for everyone. Social security has come to be linked to job benefits, tying it to one's status as a worker in the formal or...

-The Hindu Consulting firm chosen to conduct EIA on proposed NPCIL 1,000-MW reactors at Mithivirdi lacks accreditation, say sarpanches Ahmedabad: Heads of four villages in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district have written an open letter to United States President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for a public discussion and debate on the proposed 6,000-MW Mithivirdi Nuclear powerplant. Their demand comes in the light of upcoming talks between the two leaders about of...

-The Hindu JIND (HARYANA): A simple set top box is helping to prevent sex determination and female foeticide. Taking its cue from Jhajjar, which had the worst sex ratio among the districts of Haryana before staging a remarkable recovery in the past three years, the Jind administration has made it mandatory for all ultrasound labs to install active tracking devices with their machines so as to make available the details of the...

-The Hindu Six studies in four continents also reveal that small loans had no impact on women's empowerment Six studies in four continents, including one in India, have shown no evidence of microcredit successfully alleviating poverty, researchers said on Friday. Microcredit also had no impact on women's empowerment, the findings showed, upturning one of the articles of faith of development policy, including in India. Conducted by researchers affiliated to Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)...