-The Hindu Bengaluru: Is Bengaluru in danger of becoming a city that is divided along the lines of class and caste? Terming today’s urban reality an apartheid city, activist and former bureaucrat Harsh Mander has said the perpetuation of caste, class and the neoliberal ‘greed is good’ motto, have made the middle class one of the most uncaring communities the world over. And what happens when the divide enters the classroom? “Rohith...

-The Hindu The Labour Ministry has mooted the idea of forming a National Social Security Authority, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and a separate Social Security Department within the ministry to provide social security to the entire population in a bid to prop up the government’s pro-worker credentials, according to a concept note reviewed by The Hindu. The authority may have all the ministers and secretaries of all ministries dealing with...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The health ministry plans to roll out a centrally sponsored 'Health Protection Scheme' which will replace several of the existing government-supported health schemes including Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), the government's flagship health insurance plan catering to families below poverty line (BPL). The proposed scheme will initially provide a minimum cover of Rs 50,000 to around 8 crore families or almost 40 crore people. It will...

-The Indian Express The budget is an opportunity for government to address the simmering discontent and disillusion in rural India. The first advance estimates of GDP growth, at 2011-12 constant prices, put the growth for FY16 at 7.6 per cent over the previous year. This is the highest growth rate in the first four years of the forgotten 12th Five-Year Plan. No wonder this makes the Narendra Modi-led NDA government somewhat...

-The Hindu India has close to 1,00,000 cases of drug-resistant TB, most of which remain undiagnosed and untreated. So India’s state of preparedness to fight DR TB remains questionable. In a small, airless room in Dharavi, Owais sat chatting with his wife and two children. Outside, the famous rains of Mumbai beat down relentlessly on the thousands of tiny rooms that dot Dharavi. “I hope it doesn’t flood,” said Owais’s wife as he...