-The Indian Express New street vendors act is welcome. But questions of hawkers' rights come down to our understanding of city spaces and people. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2014, was finally passed by the Rajya Sabha on February 19 and received presidential assent last week. This is to be lauded. Since the late 19th century, the official view has been to treat street...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At a time when people feel increasingly unsafe on the streets and spectre of terror attacks keeps security agencies on the toes, India stares at an abysmal police - population ratio of 106 policemen per one lakh people - less than half of the UN recommended figure of 222. Even at the senior level, 1093 IPS posts are lying vacant, according to the latest government...

-Reuters   The number of maids has surged by close to 70% from 2001 to 2010, says the ILO New Delhi: Millions of maids working in middle class Indian homes are part of up an informal and "invisible" workforce where they are abused and exploited due to a lack of legislation to protect them, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday. Economic reforms that began in the early 1990s have transformed the...

-Down to Earth Police and transport department ignored months of protests by users of non-motorised transport After months of protests against an unprecedented embargo on cycles and other forms of non-motorised transport, activists in Kolkata have filed a public interest petition before the Calcutta High Court. The petition was filed on January 18 by non-profit Switch On along with Prasant Purkait, a user who delivers pest control services on a humble bicycle....

-Outlook Apparently taking a cue from AAP's policies, the government has asked the civil servants to be empathetic and adopt "people first" approach with special care for the marginalised and disadvantaged section. "Passion for serving people with special care for the marginalised and disadvantaged. Being approachable, welcoming, caring and rising above bias while interacting with people. Understand the need of the people and constantly strive to improve the services," said a competency...