-Outlook The faecal matter hits the rotary blades, politically-but we're still staring at a sanitation disaster "Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate mostly besides the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the river banks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover." -V.S. Naipaul An Area of Darkness, 1964 Not...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today launched a housing scheme for slum dwellers in the city, ahead of the civic polls here in December. The project will be developed under the Centre's Rajiv Awas Yojana scheme and predictably, the BJD leaders present at the event chose to remain silent on this. One housing project was launched at Mahishakhala behind BJB College at a cost of Rs 46.93 crore, while another was...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Over a third of the slum population in India lives without any basic facility being provided by the state as the Slums are not recognized. In the case of some states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar, the entire slum population of several lakhs remains unrecognized by the state governments. For the first time, the census data on Slums identified slum dwellers as the people living in compact...

-The Hindu These families have a far better child sex ratio than the urban Indian average Newly released census data shows families living in Slums have a far better child sex ratio than the urban Indian average. Over a third of India's slum dwellers live in unrecognised Slums. Over 65 million people live in Slums, up from 52 million in 2001, but slum populations have grown slower than the average urban population over...

-NDTV The debate on the merits and demerits of the National Food Security Bill went on for months. But most of it seems disconnected to the reality on the ground to the churning lakhs of low income families are experiencing as they register for the new scheme. There is anxiety and desperation to get subsidised foodgrain. In the office of the Food and Supply Officer in Delhi's north east district, many have...