-The Hindu   Development is as much a process of providing services as of removing obstacles and giving freedom from all sorts of discrimination. In what is perhaps one of India's most communal, polarising, divisive and personalised election campaigns, we are told far too often that this election is really about development. Yet, none of the political parties clearly defines development either in their speeches or in their manifestoes. So, what do they...

-Kafila.org The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill was meant to be an enactment to codify India's obligations under the UNCRPD, which it ratified without reservations. There was a Committee set up in 2009 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, headed by Smt. Sudha Kaul, to draft a Bill to this effect. Like the UNCRPD says, the Committee included different people with disabilities - across disabilities - to draft...

-The Telegraph Chhatrapur: Villagers in Gopalpur are thanking their lucky stars for having escaped what could have been their worst nightmare. The port town - where the eye of cyclonic storm Phailin touched Odisha coast but not with as much intensity as had been anticipated - is yet to get a cyclone shelter. People of the coastal Nua Buxipalli village near Gopalpur said the foundation stone for the cyclone shelter there was...

-IANS BHUBANESWAR: The severe cyclonic storm 'Phailin' over the Bay of Bengal has gained strength, and intensified further, officials said Friday as it moved towards Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coast. The storm over east central Bay of Bengal moved westwards, slightly intensified further and lay centred about 590 km south-southeast of Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district and 600 km southeast of Gopalpur in Ganjam district, S.C. Sahu, director of Bhubaneswar meteorological centre said. It...

-The Hindustan Times In recent years, there has been a constant stream of international attention given to the Indian middle class. Thanks to the expansion of this class, India's image has dramatically changed since the 1990s. Instead of the narrative about grinding poverty, India is now seen as the heart of new capitalism that is associated with high rates of growth as well as the consumerist elite and middle classes. The...