-Down to Earth More than 200 people in 14 villages near Roro hill in Jharkhand are dying slowly because of an abandoned asbestos mine During a film shoot at the beautiful Roro hill in Jharkhand's Chaibasa district, the villain takes out his gun to kill a young man. The moment he shoots, onlooker Rango Deogam bursts into laughter and yells at the camera crew, "You are shooting a death scene on the...

-The Hindu     Gaps between Muslims and the national average on most human development outcomes are narrowing, reflecting their improving condition The Prime Minister's high-level Sachar Committee, which analysed the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India - based on data for the 1990s, concluded that Muslims were doing much worse than the rest of the population on most social indicators. Here, we examine how the socio-economic indicators of Muslims...

-The Hindu Four out of ten women in India still have no say in their marriage, eight out of ten need permission to visit a doctor, six out of ten practise some form of head covering, and the average Indian household gives over Rs. 30,000 in dowry. These are among the findings of a major new large-scale sample survey shared exclusively with The Hindu. The National Council for Applied Economic...

-The Business Standard The Congress party's suggested right to health, if implemented, would be a game-changer This is the season for party manifestos with their vague and quite unexciting promises. But in this sea of platitudes, sometimes something stands out that is worth talking about, because, if implemented, it would be a game-changer. For me this is the reported inclusion of the right to health in the Congress party's manifesto. It is well...

-Live Mint Panel to review Sachar committee proposals says conditions of Muslims not changed perceptibly since 2006 New Delhi: In a politically uncomfortable revelation ahead of the general election, the interim report of a high-level panel says that a determined policy thrust by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has done little to improve the social and economic enfranchisement of India's Muslim minority. The interim report of the panel appointed by...