-Frontline A JOINT study by the UNICEF and the National Institute of Medical Statistics (a division of the Indian Council of Medical Research) on the levels, trends and determinants of infant and under-five mortality has concluded that at the current pace, India is unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets or the child survival goals of the Twelfth Plan. This, despite there being a consistent decline in the infant...

-The Hindu The Andhra Pradesh Assembly did itself proud by passing a Bill aimed at bringing the State’s disadvantaged sections on a par with the rest of society in economic, educational and human development terms in the next 10 years. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly did itself proud by passing a Bill aimed at bringing the State’s disadvantaged sections on a par with the rest of society in economic, educational and human development...

-The Hindu Sunita Devi couldn’t take her Class IX final exams because the date clashed with the day of her marriage. Nine years on, she has not completed her degree course, but teaches other Dalit women who couldn’t continue their studies after marriage. The resident of Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh was recounting her story to a large number of Dalit women who gathered here on Tuesday as part of the first...

-The Hindustan Times The direct cash transfer in 42 schemes to start from next year is old wine in new bottle with beneficiaries under these schemes already receiving money directly into their bank accounts. Finance minister P Chidambaram and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday announced that money under these 42 schemes of the central government would be transferred directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries in 51 districts from next January. The list...

-The Indian Express Tension prevailed in Cuddalore district on Tuesday after members of a scheduled caste Community and caste Hindus clashed this morning. A few huts of Dalit families were ransacked and set on fire. Police said trouble began when a girl belonging to a Hindu community was allegedly taunted by a Dalit youth in Pacharapalayam village in Cuddalore. The girl’s relatives and others took on the Dalit families in the area...