Representatives of around 20 civil society organizations and NGOs met the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley as part of pre-budget consultation on social sector on 12 January, 2016. Immediately after the pre-budget consultation, a press conference was held by some of these organizations to convey the media persons what demands/ suggestions were made.   Subrat Das, Executive Director of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA, http://www.cbgaindia.org/) informed us that during...

-The Hindu Several instances of in-kind transfers being successfully implemented. Social sector groups want Finance Minister to review the implementation of alternative subsidy systems before going ahead with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). “There have been several instances of in-kind transfers being successfully implemented in various parts of the country. Our appeal to the Finance Minister was to look at all the successful examples of alternative schemes before the government pushes ahead with the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A rough comparison between a government survey of all the country's campuses and a more limited scan earlier by the Rajinder Sachar committee suggests that Muslims' participation in higher education has seen little improvement over the past decade. Sachar, a retired judge, told The Telegraph the latest findings buttressed his view that the UPA government had failed to adequately implement its educational schemes for the minorities, announced after...

-The Hindu The manner in which crucial laws are being amended will end up eroding rights that have deep consequences on the lives of our children and us as citizens of a thriving democracy. All because the state hasn’t been able to deliver what it was mandated to do. The last few months have seen an alarming trend of crucial laws being amended, or sought to be amended, in a manner that...

-Outlook The Supreme Court has slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on the Centre for failing to file on time an affidavit on women being forced to become 'devadasis' and the possibility of abolition of the age-old tradition. A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit said that since the government has not filed its response despite the last opportunity given by the court on September 11, it needed...