-The Hindu State’s women’s policy draft includes amendments in treatment of transgenders Pune: Women and children in Maharashtra will now have the freedom to use any surname of their choice, the government has said in the draft of the State’s women’s policy released here on Friday. In another first, the draft also includes policy changes for the treatment of transgenders. The government has sought suggestions and recommendations from the citizens for the next two...

Introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the UPA government’s Food Security Bill is finally going to be discussed in the current (Budget) Session of Parliament. The proposed legislation is now slated to see many additional amendments from the government, following criticism from the States, NGOs and diverse stake-holders working on access to food and child health. Attempt here is to summarise in a Q & A format the...

-Economic and Political Weekly A debate on the study "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Aadhaar" conducted by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy which was discussed in the EPW of 2 February 2013. Sumathi Chandrashekaran, Shekhar H Kumar, Smriti Parsheera, Ila Patnaik, Madhavi Pundit, Suyash Rai, Ajay Shah A debate on the study “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Aadhaar” conducted by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy which was discussed in...

-The Hindu While the people of Jammu & Kashmir have a deep-rooted mistrust of state institutions, there are also substantive and unacceptable provisions in the proposed legislation While much of the country is focused on the budget and its implications for the economy and individual pocketbooks, Kashmir is focused, with much trepidation, on a draft police reform bill. This in itself gives one a sense of the disconnect that exists between Kashmir...

-The Hindustan Times Fatehabad: If women bodies are the epitome of liberation for the fairer sex, in many villages and hamlets of Haryana, women are increasingly shunning ghunghat (veil) and leading an example. Sushma Bhadu of Dhani Miyan Khan village in Fatehabad district not only fought to swagger among bête noires, but also took a pop at the centuries-old cultural tradition that dictates she be covered with a ghunghat in public places. A...