-The Hindustan Times The government might be finding it difficult to garner support for reserving 33% seat for women in Parliament but it seems it is doing its bit to empower women in municipalities. The Union cabinet is likely to clear a proposal on Tuesday reserving 50% of the elected seats for women in urban local bodies (ULBs) across the country. At present, only one-third of the seats in the local bodies are...

-PTI The United Nations Population Fund will participate in women empowerment schemes in Madhya Pradesh, fund's country head Fredrica Major has said. Terming them as wonderful, Major lauded the women welfare programmes being conducted in the state, during a meeting with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here last evening, an official release said today. Chouhan informed her about the 'Beti Bachao Abhiyan' (save the girl child campaign) and various women empowerment schemes going...

-The Hindu As many as 250 people affected by the Omkareshwar dam project have been standing in waist-deep water since Saturday night, even as the water level continues to rise. The oustees announced their jal satyagraha protest last month at Ghogalgaon village in the East Nimar region against the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to raise the water level in the dam from 189 to 193 metres. The 520-MW Omkareshwar project is one...

-The Hindu Imperative to collect and analyse data in such cases India calls them its future. But as lakhs of children are kidnapped across the country each year, pushed into sex or organ trade or bonded labour, precious little is being done to find and restore them to their parents. For these children, it is living through the worst nightmare. Getting lost in markets and seeing strange faces all around may put a...

-The Hindu Stereotypical government policies and global approaches persist in family planning programmes. Urmila is a 40-year-old domestic worker in western Uttar Pradesh. The mother of six children, all girls, she is now pregnant again and is keen on carrying on with the pregnancy. Her husband is unemployed and is an alcoholic. His relatives have assured her that they will help her to bring up the child and have also hinted...