-Down to Earth Employment guarantee, rural road and sanitation schemes among those likely to be affected The upcoming budget will see social sectors face huge cuts in funds. Ministries concerned with infrastructure works, on the other hand, will be given with more funds. These include ministries of shipping, road and transport, telecom and power. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has directed the Union Ministry of Finance to include these budget adjustments in the...

-Outlook It has taken 16 months, 400 interviews and over Rs 30 lakh for the ‘Death Penalty Research Project' to see the light of day. It has taken 16 months, 400 interviews and over Rs 30 lakh for the ‘Death Penalty Research Project' to see the light of day. Project head Anup Surendranath, an assistant professor at National Law University, Delhi, speaks to Uttam Sengupta. Excerpts: * What triggered this project in...

-Down to Earth Government sidelines its committee of experts to set up new panel to review India's intellectual property rights policy The politics of protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) is becoming more curiouswith the commerce ministry setting up a think tank to draft a national IPR policy while sidelining a committee of experts it had set up earlier. Annoyed academics who were asked to help formulate the policy in July this year...

-Down to Earth Health experts blame Centre's over-emphasis on women's sterilisation for the Chhattisgarh tragedy THERE WAS nothing right about the sterilisation camp held on November 8 in Chhattisgarh's Takhatpur block of Bilaspur district. An overambitious government doctor-with unsterilised equipment and virtually no manpower-set out to conduct laparoscopic tubectomy on 83 women in an abandoned private hospital. The mass sterilisation led to the death of 13 women and left others critically ill. They were...

-The Indian Express The recent proposal by the National Commission for Women to legalise prostitution has opened up an old debate. It is a misnomer that legalisation would lead to improving the lives of women in prostitution by way of reduced harassment by the police and provision of healthcare facilities. Advocates of legalisation should first examine the experience of countries where prostitution has been legalised. The mere fact that licensing has...