-Associated Press London: Teen pregnancies in the developing world are declining, but more than 7 million girls under the age of 18 are still giving birth each year, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday. The UN Population Fund expressed particular alarm about the dangers facing girls 14 or younger, who account for 2 million of the 7.3 million births to women under 18 in developing countries. This group faces the...
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Seven Years of RTI: From Strength to Strength
India's landmark Right to Information Legislation is called the biggest single step since independence to build transparency in governance. However, its remarkable success is owed only to just 0.3 per cent of Indians who file RTI applications. It's anybody's guess as to what would be the impact if even one or two per cent of Indians began to ask tough questions to hold their rulers accountable. It is noteworthy that...
More »Ask the right questions -Ruchi Gupta
-The Indian Express Those who want parties under RTI have not specified whether this advances transparency or electoral reform. It is time for a more nuanced debate. The tussle around the proposed RTI amendments to nullify the CIC order bringing the six national parties under the RTI Act is notable for many reasons: first, the amendments were sent to the standing committee for deliberation despite near political unanimity. This is significant, since...
More »Delhi tops chart of children taking ill at mid-day meals -Tabassum Barnagarwala
-The Indian Express New Delhi: This July, 23 school children from a village in Bihar died after eating mid-day meals contaminated with pesticide. While the incident was the first such to be reported in the country, data shows that in the past 10 years, 2,069 children across the country have taken ill after consuming food provided under the mid-day meal scheme, with figure from Delhi topping the list. According to data collected...
More »Union budgets since 2008 show India spends 0.0009% of its GDP on disability -Moushumi Das Gupta
-The Hindustan Times Nilesh Singit, 43, completed his Master's degree in Literature from Mumbai university in 1993 and a course in information technology soon after, and thought he was ready for the job market. Responses from the initial telephonic interviews too sounded positive. Then he went for the face-to-face rounds. A cerebral palsy survivor, Singit was rejected by one company after another - for four years. Dejected, he decided to turn entrepreneur....
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