-The Times of India MUMBAI: A few weeks after RBI governor Raghuram Rajan stressed on building credit histories of individuals based on the Aadhaar number, one bank has introduced unique identity-based eKYC for opening loan and savings accounts. Axis Bank, which is using payment company Visa's network to access Aadhaar database , will introduce the eKYC facility in around 25 branches next week. The branches will open loan and deposit accounts based...

-The Hindu     Governments have ritually abused the latitude granted by the Indian Penal Code and the Constitution to harass, intimidate and arrest scores of writers, journalists and artists It is common knowledge that Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution lays down that "all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression"; it is also common knowledge that this fundamental right is not absolute, as the immediately following...

-NDTV Manasa, Madhya Pradesh: In a town in Madhya Pradesh, 90 children in uniform go every day to a women's toilet complex that they call school. Classes are interrupted whenever women need to use the bathrooms. The children are made to turn the other way and wait till the women are finished. "It is very dirty and smelly, but no one cares that we are forced to study in a bathroom," said Tina,...

-The Hindu Lax monitoring, poor public engagement and inadequate training to vaccinators have dealt a serious blow to the crucial pentavalent immunisation programme The Pentavalent vaccine, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's latest addition to the immunisation programme, has run into a storm. The Supreme Court has sent a notice to the Ministry asking why the vaccine should not be banned in the country. The vaccine is no stranger to controversy. A...

-Down to Earth Money pumped in development schemes in Bihar is giving rise to a new breed of village heads, flush with money and flexing muscles About a year ago killings and a spurt in the purchase of arms and luxury vehicles in extremely backward villages started to bother the Bihar police. It spied and found that mukhiyas, or village heads, had multiplied their assets beyond imagination. It took the police six...