Soumendu Barat, postgraduate in history and Bengali Nasima Begum, graduate in economics with diploma in a computer course Sanjay Dutta, postgraduate in Bengali Oct.13: In Calcutta this morning, Soumendu, Nasima and Sanjay were preparing for the biggest gamble of their lives where the chance of success is .004. The jackpot? A Group D government job that will enable them to work as “peon, orderly peon, night guard or darwan”. Joblessness, the curse generations have lived...

Women currently make up around half of the world’s migrant population, even without taking into consideration short-term and seasonal movements. Despite the widespread prevalence of female migration, there are still some common stereotypes about its nature: that it is mostly women and girls accompanying their male heads of household, or dominantly by young, unmarried women, mostly for marriage or for some defined work enabled by contractors. Yet the migration of...

One third of the world's child brides live in India, accounting for a large number of unregistered births, according to a UNICEF report. The new report titled 'Progress for Children: A Report Card on Child Protection' says that despite rising literacy levels and legal prohibition, traditions and religious practices are keeping child marriages alive in India.  Highlighting that South Asia has more child marriages than any other region, the report points...

The ongoing floods in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharasthra have pushed millions of rural folks below the poverty line. The tragedy which is far from over has exposed the anomalies in the system of categorization of BPL families as proposed in the concept note of the Food Security Act. More than 200 people have died and over 2.5 million rendered homeless in AP and Karnataka alone. Almost all farmers in...

The 2009 Human Development Report (HDR), released simultaneously across the world on Monday, makes a strong case for removing barriers to migration within and across borders, arguing that human movement had brought perceptible all-round benefits and held the potential to improve the lives of millions of poor and low-skilled people. Released jointly here by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and United Nations Resident Coordinator Patrice Coeur-Bizot, the...