"It is wrong to say that we will become a super cabinet. We are here to get the Indian bureaucracy to see reason to carry forward social projects related to areas like health, food, agriculture speedily and make sure that people like (Planning Commission deputy chairman) Montek Singh Ahluwalia gets the correct picture and figures on social issues," a member of the National Advisory Council told rediff.com. The member argued...
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Backward Bihar goes for the smartest cards by SA Aiyar
India has launched its first high-tech census. Citizens will be photographed and will give 10 fingerprints each. The resultant database will be used to issue identity cards, and later smart cards, to all. All Indians will welcome high-tech smart cards. Yet the technological lead has been taken not by the census commissioner but, astonishingly, by Bihar. This state has just completed a pilot project for smart cards in Patna district,...
More »Initiative to ensure menstrual hygiene among rural women by Ananya Dutta
The Gender Hygiene Programme is attempting to change attitude towards menstrual hygiene It involves SHGs manufacturing inexpensive sanitary towels from cotton and tissue paper When women in rural areas are asked to spend Rs.15 on a packet of nine sanitary napkins, they respond by saying they would rather continue to use rags and spend the money on their husbands or children. But the Gender Hygiene Programme (GHP) launched here three years ago is...
More »Danger of inflation by CP Chandrasekhar
WELL before Budget 2010-11 was presented, inflation had emerged as the principal economic problem in the country. With food-price inflation running at close to 20 per cent, even the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre had been forced to recognise it as a problem that deserved as much attention as the objective of achieving a 9 or 10 per cent rate of growth, if not more. In fact,...
More »Where is the law to protect our children from sexual abuse? by Ananthapriya Subramanian
We urgently need legislation that specifically addresses child abuse. The Indian Penal Code does not spell out the definition of child abuse as a specific offence Even the Juvenile Justice Act does not specifically address the issue of child sexual abuse The government's decision to introduce a set of guidelines for service providers in the tourism sector in a move to prevent a repeat of incidents like the rape of a Russian...
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