Maharashtra Minister launches “Save the Girl Child” campaign to curb sex-selective abortions In a packed cultural hall in Chandrapur, poor acoustics did not take away from a serious play on female foeticide. The voices of the actors went high and low as mikes were pushed hastily towards them. At the end of the play, there was a poignant appeal from an unborn girl who asked for a chance to live. On Sunday...

-IANS   Eminent agriculture scientist and a member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), M.S. Swaminathan, has cautioned against the government's plan to replace subsidised food with cash under the proposed National Food Security Act (NFSA). "The government's plan to replace subsidised ration with cash under the public distribution system (PDS) is faulty. It will lead to low procurement and less production subsequently. This will be bad for Indian agriculture," Swaminathan...

As higher urbanisation has long-term consequences for governance, the latest numbers should serve as a heads-up to the planners. More Indians are moving into towns now. According to the 2011 Census, the urban population grew by 90.99 million between 2001 and 2011. The absolute increase in the rural population over this period was 90.47 million. Put differently, urban population grew by 31.8 per cent, a little over two-and-a-half times the corresponding...

One lives to learn — or unlearn. The working head of what passes for this country’s Planning Commission is unambiguous about it. One important measure to fight inflation, he believes, is to raise prices. That is to say, to stop prices from rising, you must first raise prices. The gentleman has heartily endorsed the recent serial increases in the prices of petroleum products since such increases will, in his view,...

“This war is between a small minority of exploiters and toiling masses” The Maoists have promised to “rehabilitate” all Special Police Officers (SPOs) in Chhattisgarh who sever all connections with the State machinery and return to their villages, according to a signed press release dated July 7. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) release was issued in the backdrop of a July 5 Supreme Court ruling that the use of armed SPOs...