-The Hindu Patiala (Punjab): It is an illegal but accepted practice here to employ agricultural labourers and their family against a loan The blaring gurdwara loudspeakers at Punjab’s Gandav village confirmed the worst fears of Jasbir Kaur. They were announcing that the recently-widowed young woman would lose the one-room shed she calls home if she was unable to pay back the Rs. 80,000 her husband had borrowed from the village landowner. With...

-The Hindustan Times Underprivileged people of Muktsar district, the home turf of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, received a lion's share for construction of houses in 2011 in the run-up to the assembly elections, it has emerged. Funds to the tune of over Rs. 40 crore were pumped into Muktsar district alone from the social infrastructure fund (SIF) to help economically weaker sections (EWS) construct or repair their houses, while five districts,...

-PTI Melbourne: India has been ranked at a poor 115 by a global survey which looked into the level of economical empowerment of women in 128 countries.  The list was topped by Australia and followed by three Scandinavian countries -- Norway, Sweden and Finland.  At the bottom of the list were Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan and Chad.  The research done by an international consulting and management firm Booz & Company ranked India at 115 and...

-The Indian Express An IIM-Ahmedabad analysis of education and employment amongst Muslims in the country has concluded that the minority community has a higher perception of “unfairness” and “discrimination” and that Muslims have, in fact, a stronger case for reservations than the Hindu OBCs. Incidentally, a Central government notification in December 2011 to effect 4.5 per cent minority quota in Central educational institutes was stayed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court earlier...

-The Hindu Shobhu Ram, a prominent activist from H.P., uses the Act to empower others of his ilk in his State Shobhu Ram can be mistaken for just another visually challenged person, who also works as an announcer in the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation, but beneath the veneer lies a strong fighter for the rights of the disabled in general and for the rights of the visually challenged in particular. Mr....