-The Hindu To bridge the gap in development between the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and non-SCs and STs, a coalition of more than 150 organisations is demanding a national law to prevent, once and for all, the diversion, non-release, non-implementation and lapsing of the Special Component Plans for SCs/STs. In response to the coalition's longstanding demands, the National Advisory Council's guidance and the letter Sonia Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Stung by the Saradha episode, the government has decided to drastically amend legislation governing the market regulator's power to police chit fund companies. The finance ministry will push for the legislation to be cleared in the current session of Parliament and, if that fails, to issue an ordinance immediately afterward. Government managers believe the explosion of Ponzi schemes in West Bengal and in Uttar Pradesh is enough...

-PTI Commission upset over 'steep rise' in cases Chandigarh: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes on Friday expressed strong displeasure over the failure of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar governments to prevent "steep rise" in atrocities against people from weaker sections. "The commission is in the final stages of preparing a report card on the functioning of Haryana, Punjab, Bihar and UP governments regarding increase in cases of atrocities against Dalits," NCSC...

-The Hindu     Imprecise estimates of slums in the 2011 census could affect welfare programmes for least privileged groups The recently published census 2011 report on housing stock, amenities and assets in slums, the first of its kind in the country, reassuringly announced that the number of urban slums has declined and the percentage of households in slums has dropped from 23.5 (2001) to 17.4. On the face of it, this reduction appears...

-The Indian Express Kolkata: As the investigation into the Saradha chit fund scam threatens to reach the doorstep of the Trinamool Congress, the markets watchdog is learnt to have warned of a larger, more frightening scenario: similar Ponzi schemes run by at least five other companies in West Bengal, involving over Rs 4,000 crore of small investors' money. In its latest communication sent to the state government, the Securities and Exchange Board...