KEY TRENDS   • According to National Sample Survey report no. 583: Persons with Disabilities in India, the percentage of persons with disability who received aid/help from Government was 21.8 percent, 1.8 percent received aid/help from organisation other than Government and another 76.4 percent did not receive aid/ help *8   • As per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), the Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was 57.2 per 1,000 live births (for the non-STs it was 38.5)...

-The Indian Express Chandigarh: Call it fear of social ostracism, or lack of belief in law and order machinery, more and more reports of sexual assault victims trying to kill self are coming to light in Haryana. In the last four months, at least six such cases have been reported where the victims of sexual harassment, including molestation, stalking and rape, have attempted suicide. In the most recent incident, a Karnal based woman...

-PTI New Delhi: The government is planning to open all-women post offices in rural areas where working women are available in good numbers. "We want to open such post offices in other parts of the country as well. The Department (of Posts) decides where women are available and doing jobs. If you go in to rural areas, you would not be able to find a (big) number. We will start with...

-The Hindu     The public transport system is the most effective way of reducing the number of vehicles as well as emissions Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), 2020 with an ambitious goal of shifting to electric propulsion for surface transport. This would reduce our dependence on diesel and petrol and lead to lower emission levels, including carbon-di-oxide emission, which is one of the major contributors...

-The Hindu     The shortened lifespan of the quarry workers of Uttar Pradesh is spent breaking stones and residing among the pollution- laden boulders Mired with sandy roads and rocky terrain, the landscape in south-western Allahabad creates a remarkable mirage under the blue sky. Some of the larger rocks here have sizeable craters formed in them -- a sign of their depletion over time, by an activity that is hazardous yet critical to the...