-IPS News BELLARY, India: HuligeAmma, a Dalit woman in her mid-forties, bends over a sewing machine, carefully running the needle over the hem of a shirt. Sitting nearby is Roopa, her 22-year-old daughter, who reads an amusing message on her cell phone and laughs heartily. The pair leads a simple yet contented life – they subsist on half a dollar a day, stitch their own clothes and participate in schemes to educate...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The number of women consuming tobacco products has doubled over 15 years, according to a report by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). While only 10% of women consumed tobacco products during the mid- and late-1990s, the number has increased to 20% in recent years, the report said. Tobacco consumption among men has remained in the range of 45-57% between 1995-96 and 2009-10. The increase in...

-Business Standard There was a significant rise in number of bank accounts held by Indians last year but a large chunk of these saw no transaction, shows a World Bank report Amid data suggesting nearly every Indian household now has access to a bank account, thanks to a renewed push to financial inclusion under the government’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, a set of numbers from the World Bank Global Findex for...

-Economic and Political Weekly Direct benefi t transfers in the form of cash cannot replace the supply of food through the public distribution system. Though it is claimed otherwise, DBT does not address the problems of identifying the poor ("targeting") and DBT in place of the PDS will expose the vulnerable to additional price fluctuation. Further, if the PDS is dismantled, there will also be no need or incentive for procurement...

-The Indian Express Adopt more stringent fuel quality and emission standards — and push for the national automobile pollution and fuel authority Approximately 20 years ago, in 1995, a process was started that held great promise for ameliorating the serious air pollution problem in Delhi. Under a provision of the Indian Constitution, environmental lawyer M.C. Mehta filed a public interest litigation with the Supreme Court, seeking relief from the serious health risks...