-The Hindu   The urban future depends on making cities intelligent, and that applies equally to both new and old parts of the city Smart cities, the flagship project of the Bharatiya Janata Party's urban vision, have received a firm financial allocation in the Union budget. The government has provided Rs.7,060 crore to build 100 smart cities as satellite towns on the outskirts of large cities to accommodate the burgeoning urban population. Foreign...

-The Hindu   India is among the world champions of social underspending. Without enlightened social policies, growth mania is unlikely to deliver more under the new government than it did under the previous one Few people today remember the letter written on August 7, 2013 by Mr. Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In this letter, available on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) website, Mr. Modi criticised...

-The Hindustan Times   New Delhi: A group of young engineers have formulated an environment friendly way of reusing compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) used in households at a cost of Rs. 1. Led by engineers Shubham Manocha, 19, and Shivinder Singh Chandok, 20 - students of National Power Training Institute - the project ‘Prajwal' aims at mobilising the Resident Welfare Associations of various colonies of the city to collect used CFLs. The students...

-Down to Earth   Most severely and consistently excluded groups are women, Adivasis, Muslims and the Disabled, report confirms A recent report by a Delhi NGO undermines government claims on reaching welfare schemes to the needy and disadvantaged sections of society. The report, titled The India Exclusion Report 2013-14, says the government has failed miserably in providing equal access to public goods to the most disadvantaged groups. The report, prepared by Delhi-based Centre for...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Illiteracy levels are high across all categories of disability and very high for children with visual, multiple and mental disabilities compared to national averages. Generating awareness that the Disabled have full rights to appropriate education in mainstream schools and that it is the duty of those involved in administration at every level, including schools, to ensure that they have access to education is of utmost importance. Ranjita Dawn...