-Hindustan Times The government slashed plan expenditure by about 20% in the 2015-16 budget amid fiscal concerns, hitting spending on social sectors such as education and women's empowerment that were the focus areas of the previous UPA administration. In the 2014-15 budget, Arun Jaitley allocated Rs. 5,75,000 crore for plan expenditure, or money that goes towards creation of productive assets, but could spare only Rs. 4,65,277 crore this time. This is also...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: All governments till now, including the present one, have promised that they will do their utmost to uplift dalits and adivasis who make up about 24% of India's population and generally occupy the lowest rung of the social and economic hierarchy. One way of fulfilling this eternal promise has been the system of specially earmarking funds from the Five Year Plan outlays for dalits and...

-The Hindu Perceptions of public safety in India are not driven by urbanisation per se; rather, these are likely driven by the infrastructure and amenities associated with the largest cities in India One of the most important functions of a modern state is to provide for basic law and order. Indeed, this idea emerges from some of the early foundational tracts on state authority, especially the work of sociologist Max Weber, who...

-The Hindu The implementation of the National Food Security Act is mired in apathy and confusion. A grave injustice is being done to millions of people who live on the margin of subsistence. It is not too late to remove the roadblocks, but this requires a sense of urgency An odd silence has surrounded the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the last few months - as if food insecurity were a...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: The tall claims of the successive governments notwithstanding, Devadasi system continues to flourish in rural areas of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. According to a report submitted by one-man commission recently, the two states together have about 80,000 Devadasi women. This was much over the estimated number of the AP social welfare commission, which put the figure at 24,273. A one-man commission headed by Justice Raghunath Rao, a...