-The Times of India Six years ago, the Sachar Committee reportshowed that the Muslim community in India suffers from severe deprivations in education, employment, health services, public Infrastructure, access to financial services leading to much higher poverty than other religious groups, somewhat like the condition of scheduled castes and tribes. The government responded by setting up a separate ministry for minority affairs, and launching several programs to provide benefits to the...

-Forbes India A look at the crucial issues involved Over the past three years, India has vigorously debated the merits of having a Unique Identity (UID) number for each citizen and, allied with it, the move towards direct cash transfers (DCT) of subsidies (like food, fuel and fertilizer) and social security endowments, like pensions and scholarships. On January 1, India took its first steps towards UID-enabled direct cash transfers. But the move has...

-Outlook Inadequate Infrastructure and lack of facilities at AIIMS today came under scanner of a Parliamentary panel which slammed the government for its "failure" to even provide for a state-of-the-art ambulance to transport the Delhi gang-rape victim to the airport recently. Sources said members of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, in its meeting here, lamented that the government had to borrow an ambulance from a private hospital to transport the girl to...

-Outlook Gollaprolu (AP): The direct cash transfer scheme is not a "jaadu ki chhadi" (magic wand) to reform a "broken down" delivery system and problems are there in its implementation, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said today.  "It (Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme) is not a single 'jaadu ki chhadi' (magic wand). It is an experiment. The world's largest experiment in administrative reforms," he told reporters here. The Union Rural Development Minister's remarks came against...

-The Times of India After asking the Delhi Police to make women cops available at all the 180 police stations in the national capital, the Centre on Friday moved to recruit an additional 2,508 women police personnel for the city and asked all the states to replicate this model by increasing the number of women in police forces to 33% of their total strength. The Centre also asked all the states and...