-The Hindu     In spite of the rosy picture painted by the World Bank, the prospect of eliminating extreme poverty remains distant In a protracted period of gloom and persistent recession with feeble signs of recovery in a large part of the developed world, the World Bank, Brookings Institution and others can be forgiven for their euphoria over the accomplishment of a key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) - of halving extreme poverty in...

-PTI A top UN official has said that the violence against women is the "most pervasive" expression of Gender-based discrimination and it remains unacceptably widespread. United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, "Violence against women is the most pervasive expression of Gender-based discrimination." She was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council during its annual full-day discussion on women's rights on Wednesday. "International developments have been mirrored by efforts at the national...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: While declaring that her government was keen to take the Aadhaar-based cash transfers to 30 lakh beneficiaries across various schemes, chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday expressed concern over obstacles in the delivery of cash transfers due to non-cooperation of banks. She urged Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani to work towards speeding up the bank account opening process linked to Aadhaar enrolments. Dikshit...

-The Telegraph The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) today unveiled three services that will help people authenticate their identity anytime, anywhere by just using their Aadhaar number instead of the card. The iris-based authentication, OTP (one-time password) and e-KYC (know your customer) services will ensure Aadhaar cardholders don't have to carry address or identity proofs to get a phone or cooking gas connection. Service providers like banks or telecom firms merely...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: Minority-dominated Dhubri district has recorded the highest population growth rate in Assam while Kokrajhar has recorded the lowest, according to the 2011 census, the final findings of which were released today. Assam ranks 14th in the country in terms of population. While Assam recorded a population growth rate of 17.1 per cent (4,550,048 people) over the past decade (2001-2011), Dhubri and Kokrajhar recorded a growth of 24.44 per cent...