-The Hindu Rural women sew their way to empowerment, thanks to the Silai Schools. Saroj Namdev, 36, of Satlapur village, Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, is a housewife and mother of three. She struggled to provide her children food and education on her husband's small income. Then he lost his job and the family was reduced to penury. This pushed her out of her cocooned existence to become an entrepreneur. Saroj,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Maneka Gandhi has asked non-profit organisations to move beyond stereotypical skills like stitching and tailoring to "specific vocations" while applying for funds to train women and warned of a crackdown if the course didn't lead to employment. Sources in Maneka's women and child development ministry said the advisory, sent to all NGOs working with the department, had basically two objectives: weed out fraudulent applicants and impart skills with...

-The Week Shambhu Kumar, 8, quite liked his job as a domestic help in a small town in Assam. He had to mind two children nearly his age, keep an eye on the ducks and be available for chores all day. It wasn't too hard, and he was well fed, too, though he missed his grandmother, a tea garden labourer. One day, some women from the state education department came to the...

-The Hindu Pune: An impotent anxiety grips Indira Gaikwad as she hobbles on her crutches in her matchbox house in the mean tenements in the city's Rasta Peth area. A former State-level disabled sports champion, Indira, at 43, is fast approaching the deadline (of 45 years) for differently abled sportspersons aspiring to a government job. Crushed by the financial burdens of looking after her 75-year-old ailing mother, the post-dated promises of goodwill...

-Sikh24.com AKHORA-In what has become known as Punjab's suicide belt, men may be the ones taking their lives in an instant, but women are increasingly at risk of suffering over the long term. A blue and white wooden sign marks the "stitching room" in the Gurdwara in the small village of Bakhora. The walls of the room are aligned with hand-drawn posters illustrating steps to making a "ladies kameez," or tunic. Samples...