-The Hindu Business Line Indian society is yet to acknowledge the existence of rape culture – a set of beliefs that condones aggression on women. Perhaps no other event in India has received more international attention in the recent past than the brutal gang rape in Delhi and its tragic aftermath. The issue is widely covered in the Western media; the latest addition is the channel interview of the rape victim’s male...

-The Economic Times Even as India gears up for cash transfers aimed at its poorest, Brazil has been running the Bolsa Familia (BF) cash transfer scheme, widely credited with helping cut inequality by 17% in five years, reducing Brazil's poverty rate from over 40% to 28.8%. BF is run by the National Secretariat of Citizenship Income (SENARC) of Brazil's ministry of social development. Luis Henrique Paiva, secretary of SENARC, spoke about...

-The Hindustan Times The direct cash transfer in 42 schemes to start from next year is old wine in new bottle with beneficiaries under these schemes already receiving money directly into their bank accounts. Finance minister P Chidambaram and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday announced that money under these 42 schemes of the central government would be transferred directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries in 51 districts from next January. The list...

-The Hindu In the latest move on its social welfare agenda, the government may expand its pension scheme, widening the net for widows, single and divorced women, disabled people, Dalits and tribal senior citizens, as well as increasing the amount paid to older people. The Rural Development Ministry, which is proposing the expansion, estimates the additional cost at more than Rs. 18,000 crore per year. The Ministry has just accepted the recommendations made...

-Down to Earth Rice cultivation has led to waterlogging and soil salinity in Haryana’s Jhajjar district CASTE-BASED khap panchayats of Haryana are usually in the news for passing regressive and, often, controversial orders in the name of honouring social customs. But this year in January, the Jhakkar khap panchayat of Jhajjar district gave a rather unusual order in the larger interest of the farming community. It ordered that all the 36...