-The World Bank Blog Infecting more than 1 billion people globally, the 7 major Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) cause blindness, disfigurement, anemia and cognitive impairment, and yet can be controlled or even eliminated by taking PILls once or twice a year. NTDs are not simply neglected in terms of awareness and resource allocation but also in the sense that they affect some of the most neglected communities on the planet –...

-PTI The ongoing nursery admission process in the national capital would remain unaffected as the Delhi High Court today upheld the validity of two government notifications that gave powers to private unaided schools to formulate their own criteria. "We uphold the notifications," a bench comprising Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice V K Jain said while disposing of a PILseeking quashing of the notifications issued by the Union Human Resources Development...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: The rural police, under a project to empower women and initiate village-based community service, have adopted a policy to reach out to young girls through various means. Roping in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the rural police plan to place complaint boxes in 426 girls' school in the district and set up a mobile library. In the backdrop of the shocking gang rape and dacoity at Kuhi last month,...

-Economic and Political Weekly The proposed legislation on the National Food Security Act has been steadily watered down since it was fi rst mooted in 2009. The Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the 2011 Bill has disappointingly continued with "targeting". If the government passes the bill incorporating the committee's suggestions, a historic opportunity to combat hunger and malnutrition would be lost. Ankita Aggarwal (aggarwal.ankita87@gmail.com) is a Research Scholar at the Centre for...

-The Times of India When the PMO was finalizing the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in October using Aadhaar as the basic platform, at least three other agencies suggested they could implement the new plan equally well. The home ministry's NPR plan prompted the government to divide the work of issuing ID cards in two segments, shrugging off the department of financial services' suggestion that banks and debit cards could be used...