-Livemint.com * Access to electricity is associated with significant improvement in women empowerment, finds a new study * Women's bargaining power increases by 7-10 percentage points because of electrification, says the study Mumbai: In the five years of the Narendra Modi government, India has witnessed near-universal electrification, though the quality of power supply remains sub-standard. Addressing the supply challenge as demand for electricity rapidly increases will be key not only for India’s economic growth...

-The Times of India While the participation of women in Indian elections has gradually increased, their presence in Parliament and other governing bodies has continued to remain abysmally low ever since the first elections in 1952, data reveals. Trends indicate that in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha polls, women voters will surpass men. However, trends also reveal that women will remain grossly under-represented in the decision-making process as India continues to hover...

-The Hindu Study recommends that the scheme should move beyond benefits for women alone to change household behaviour NEW DELHI: The hidden truth of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY), being touted in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election campaigning as one of the big successes of the incumbent government, is that most rural households with LPG (liquiefied petroleum gas) connections still use chulhas with firewood or dung cakes, to the detriment...

-The Indian Express “The number of jobs created under the Mudra scheme will be released after the polls as the Expert Committee found anomalies in the methodology used by the Bureau in arriving at the findings,” sources said. The Labour Bureau’s survey on the number of jobs created under the Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency (Mudra) scheme will not be made public for another two months making this the third...

-The Hindu Better education is not leading to better job opportunities, marriage prospects or freedom of movement Abigail Adams, wife of the second President of the U.S. and mother of the sixth President, wrote to her husband, “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion.” As last year’s #MeToo movement and Sabarimala protests showed, perhaps Indian women are echoing her and are...