-The Hindu Why did the West Bengal girls’ welfare scheme win the UN Public Service Award this year? In 2014, Rehana (name changed), a 15-year old from a school in West Bengal’s Sunderbans region, was rescued from a red light area in Delhi. The Class IX student had been ensnared by traffickers who then sold her off in Kolkata. After being brought back, the local administration and a non-governmental organisation (NGO) re-enrolled...

-India Today West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been awarded the highest public service honour by the United Nations for her project on girl child empowerment- Kanyashree. In a major boost to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's pet project 'Kanyashree', the United Nations today accorded its highest award for public service to the West Bengal government for the scheme initiated to empower the girl child with education. The project was launched in 2011...

-PTI May 23 notification not “to influence food habits, or affect slaughtering business”, the Union Environment Minister says. The government on Sunday said it was open to suggestions from various groups on the May 23 cattle slaughter notification and was not viewing it as a prestige issue. Speaking to reporters here, Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said the intention behind the notification was not to harm any particular group, influence food habits or affect...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: The Bengal budget has proposed a grant of Rs 50,000 each to 50,000 migrant workers who were forced to return from other states because of demonetisation. By announcing the first such scheme in the country, the Mamata Banerjee government has beaten to the draw the Narendra Modi dispensation. Speculation had swirled around the Modi government that it might share the "gains of demonetisation" with the people through direct deposits...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has started to fumble for explanations, with the original raison d'etre for the demonetisation drive coming under strain because of the high volume of cash deposits that have poured into bank accounts. Almost 80 per cent of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were demonetised on November 9 has come straight back into the banking system, prompting the government to change the...