-Frontline How far will the proposed women's bank help marginalised sections when women's SHGs get little support and find it hard even to open accounts in public sector banks? WHILE the recent announcement of a women's bank in the Union Budget has been touted as a progressive measure for the financial inclusion of women, no concrete measures have been forthcoming to make all existing public sector banks sensitive to the needs...

-Live Mint Indians who live in slums are not very different from those who live elsewhere, in terms of ownership of assets Indians who live in slums are not very different from those who live elsewhere, in terms of their ownership of assets, including consumer products and houses, although they may not have the same access to water and sanitation. The finding, reflected in Census 2011 data that was released on Thursday, reinforces...

-The Guardian Negotiations end with agreement on ending violence against women at the Commission on the Status of Women, but civil society groups express concerns UN officials and activists expressed relief and delight over news that an agreement had been reached at this year's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Greeted with cheers, the agreed outcome document of the 57th CSW, which was announced on Friday evening, was hailed as an "important...

-The Indian Express Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has said that the Delhi Development Authority will build one lakh houses for the economically weaker sections (EWS) every year. He made this announcement at a meeting of the consultative committee attached to the Ministry of Urban Development. He said around 40 lakh people in Delhi live in unauthorised colonies and to prevent further growth of slum clusters, the government regularised 917 unauthorised colonies this...

-The Economic Times The government plans to revive cultivation of crops that make Punjab's iconic "makki ki roti and sarson ka saag" -- maize and mustard -- along with horticulture and fodder to breathe life into the stressed soil and the rapidly depleting water table in the green-revolution state. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is pushing hard for crop diversification in Punjab and has appointed an inter-ministerial panel on crop diversification led by Agriculture...