The government plans an umbrella law to tighten financial scrutiny and regulation of religious trusts and non-profit organisations as it looks to allay global concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing activities by such entities. It is also likely to make public names of organisations that claim tax exemption to ensure greater transparency. Some of India's religious trusts are among the richest in the world. Last year, Tirumala temple, managed...

Correcting The Skew... Among suggestions made for checking prenatal sex determination are:     * Police presence outside suspect ultrasound clinics and hospitals     * An online complaint forum to allow people to inform on erring clinics     * Mapping of districts, identification of problem regions and analysis of data to determine causative factors     * Tracking sex ratio through data collection at birth, so that real-time data is available for corrective measures *** The news of the...

A Delhi survey paints a disturbing picture Roofless childhood     * There are 51,000 street children in Delhi; 20% are girls.     * 70% are on the street despite having a home in Delhi     * 50.5% are illiterate. 87% earn a living—20% as ragpickers, 15.8% as street vendors, 15% by begging     * Over 50% have suffered verbal, physical or sexual abuse     * Fewer than 20% have ID cards or birth certificates, and...

Patriarchal societies are part of the problem of altered sex ratios, female infanticide and foeticide. This needs to be acknowledged and changed. India's sex ratio, among children aged 0-6 years, is alarming. The ratio has declined from 976 females (for every 1000 males) in 1961 to 914 in 2011. Every national census has documented a decline in the ratio, signalling a ubiquitous trend. Preliminary data from the 2011 census have recorded...

Mayawati has brought rural health mission under Chief Secretary's control Visits slain CMO's house; killing was linked to alleged financial bungling under NRHM Rita Bahuguna files RTI plea on mis-utilisation of Central funds under NRHM A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati brought the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) directly under the administrative control of the Chief Secretary, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi sent a strong political message when...