-The Hindu "If we are going to be serious about supporting women's SHGs, then we need a development finance institution" Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's proposal to establish a Bank exclusively for women - which he described as the highlight of this year's budget - may have garnered applause from across party lines in Parliament and could be set up as early as October; but that hasn't stopped his Cabinet colleague and Rural...
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Aakash is no silver bullet-Akshat Rathi
-The Hindu The government needs to open its eyes and realise that the technological utopia it envisions in the low-cost tablet is no cure for poor education, poverty or inequality The last few days have brought the Aakash tablet back into the media limelight. Last Friday, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister M.M. Pallam Raju said that troubles with the manufacturer could doom the project. But the next day, former HRD Minister Kapil...
More »Crimes of exclusion-Siddharth Narrain
-The Indian Express It is anger on the streets that brought the neglected issue of sexual violence back to the forefront, energised a government-appointed committee to put together clear and well reasoned recommendations on law reform and forced the government to table the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013. It is public pressure and years of struggle by the women's movement that is reflected in the more progressive parts of the bill,...
More »Agriculture vs technology -Deepak Pental
-The Indian Express No country has ever achieved prosperity without engaging with science and technology (S&T). The ascent of the West and its global domination owes much to its prowess in S&T. In Asia, Japan and South Korea and more recently China have taken the highway to prosperity by mastering technology and effectively dealing with complexity. Chinese economist Justin Yufi Lin in his book The Quest for Prosperity has argued that...
More »No rural polls without central forces in Kolkata
-The Hindustan Times There would be no panchayat polls without central forces, the State Election Commission (SEC) made this clear to the Mamata Banerjee administration on Thursday, even though Trinamool leaders and ministers continued to resist the move, saying that, ultimately, law and order is the responsibility of the state government. Senior SEC officials told HT they had opted for the central armed forces since this was a tried and tested method...
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