-AFP KOLKATA: Sex workers are being trained to identify counterfeit currency to prevent punters from conning them in the dimly-lit brothels of one of Asia's biggest red light districts. Prostitution is illegal in India, meaning the country's estimated three million sex workers cannot complain to police if they are paid with fake notes. But a campaign group known as the Committee for Indomitable Women has now begun a training programme in Kolkata's notorious...

-The Business Standard The next catastrophe to hit UID will be on breach of privacy, which will happen sooner than later Tech czar and soon to be politician Nandan Nilekani joined Twitter last week and already has some 650 plus followers. The man shunned all forms of social media during the last four years as the chief of the unique identify (UID) or Aadhaar project. So this sudden change in strategy is...

-The Business Standard The Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows are being pampered with funds to serve for just two years   The Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellows scheme, announced two years ago, sounded like a novel way to connect educated youth to the problems of backward rural areas hit by Maoist violence. But it is now surrounded by questions as its financial size is now larger than the problem it seeks to solve...

-The Business Standard Onion crisis is a reminder of the need for retail reform Onion prices in towns have begun, finally, to come down. That follows a fresh harvest of onions in Karnataka and Maharashtra. But the price rise could happen again - unless its causes are realistically ascertained, and the right lessons drawn. The crisis was generally believed to have been triggered by low production, high exports and rampant hoarding. However,...

-University of Oxford Babies in a rural area of India are less likely to suffer from acute malnutrition where their families are taking part in a job-guarantee programme to provide work with a guaranteed wage, an Oxford University study has found. However, the Indian government programme appears to have no effect on long-term malnutrition. While wages earned through the scheme helped families avoid starvation when seasonal agricultural jobs were in short supply, many...