-The Indian Express Once again, the debate on census population data on religion misses the point. With the release of the Census 2011 data on religion and misleading reports in the media, the growth of the Muslim population has become the focus of the debate once again. Almost 10 years ago, in 2004, a similar but sharper controversy had erupted when the government released the Census 2001 data on religion. There...

-TheWire.in It’s high time Hindus and Sikhs learned from their neighbours of other religions how to save millions of “missing women” The release of the latest census data on religion has whipped up a media storm. The focus has been on the two largest communities − Hindus (79.8%) and Muslims (14.2%). But one significant trend between them seems to have been largely overlooked. In 1991 and 2001, Muslims and Hindus had virtually similar...

-The Indian Express On census, Christians and conversions, Surjit Bhalla has tortured his data to make it say what he wants to hear. Last week, Surjit S. Bhalla wrote a piece in The Indian Express titled ‘Census, Christians, Conversions’. After going over well-trodden ground on what the recently released Census 2011 figures meant, he came to the crux of the matter as he saw it: Why hasn’t the Christian population fallen...

Two recent reports show that this social sector scheme has had a causal impact in improving lives, especially for women and children Fourteen million people escaped falling into poverty under the world’s largest anti-poverty programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In 10 years of its existence, the scheme reduced poverty by 32 per cent. Recent data also shows that more women are drawing cash incomes, more children...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: In 2014, Maharashtra had more women in its police force than any other state or union territory in India. But its 17,957 policewomen formed a minuscule 10.48% of the state's total police force. Delhi ranks 12th in the list, at 7.15%, well below Chandigarh's top tally of 14.16%. The Maharashtra numbers are particularly depressing because the state was the first to introduce a 30% reservation for women...