-Outlook Batting for bringing flexibility in UPA's flagship NREGA, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh today said the scheme has failed to achieve the three objectives of wage employment, creating community assets and empowering gram panchayats at the same time in any state. Stating that all jobs cannot be provided in areas where the youths want them, he called for encouraging migration across all states and noted with concern the "discrimination" in housing suffered...

-The Hindu The camps were set up in the aftermath of September's communal violence MUZAFFARNAGAR: Three months after the high-profile visits of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi to various relief camps, riot-affected Muslims belonging to at least half-a-dozen villages are still to return to their native villages. Large scale violence that erupted in this sugarcane belt in August-September this year has a left deep scar on the psyche of these...

-Frontline In a situation of increasing life expectancy and crumbling traditional support structures, a universal social pension scheme that does not rely on contribution by a person or an employer can help the elderly. INDIA prides itself on being a "young" society, likely to benefit from a demographic dividend as children and young people move into working age groups over the next decade. This optimistic view assumes that society will be able...

-The Business Standard But urban homelessness has increased As part of the 2011 census operations the government took a count of homeless people across the country on the night of February 28, 2011. The numbers of India's homeless population emerging from that survey were made public a few days ago. Although a single-day exercise has many advantages, some people have also contested it - at least one non-governmental organisation working in the...

-The Hindustan Times Bali: After five days of hard negotiations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Saturday reached a historic deal designed to ease movement of goods across countries and allow developing nations more options to feed their poor - as India successfully lobbied in favour of state-funded welfare schemes. "For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered," WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo broke down while announcing the deal...