KEY TRENDS   • According to National Sample Survey report no. 583: Persons with Disabilities in India, the percentage of persons with disability who received aid/help from Government was 21.8 percent, 1.8 percent received aid/help from organisation other than Government and another 76.4 percent did not receive aid/ help *8   • As per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), the Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was 57.2 per 1,000 live births (for the non-STs it was 38.5)...

-PTI In a step towards greater transparency, the government has started a unique facility of submitting RTI applications and fees online. The portal--www.rtionline.gov.in-- has been created with an aim to help people exercise their right to seek information through online medium, said officials in Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of transparency law in the country. An information seeker can submit a fee of Rs...

-Civil Society Online Accreditation is the act of granting credit or recognition. It is to be preceded with a process where facts, figures and professional ethics are scrutinized so that the desired certification of competency, authority or credibility is presented. Only the best suited with the requisite track record are to find themselves in the approved list. In India, the much talked about and well critiqued initiative wherein consultants undertaking the responsibility...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Slum dwellers in Jaipur will shortly get the benefit of a slew of schemes with the selection of the Rajasthan Capital in the National Urban Livelihood Mission. The Rajiv Awas Yojana will also be implemented here from next month for construction of houses for them. Jaipur Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal announced at a discourse on "Urban poverty and strengthening of civil society voices" here on Thursday that special measures would...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Indian villages are powering their own economy, but contrary to conventional belief , it's not government largesses which are the drivers, but their own self-sustaining models. Growth at the bottom of the pyramid is at unprecedented level, and the transformation is stark. The factors driving this transformation are dramatic improvements in rural roads, electrification, cell phones and water supply which are raising wages and increasing job opportunities...