Frequent and unrelenting protests against land acquisition seem to have compelled political parties to take the issue seriously. The Centre has promised to introduce a redrafted land acquisition Bill during the winter session of Parliament. As per official pronouncements, the Bill will provide for higher compensation to the affected parties. Besides, acquisition for private companies will be restricted to less than 30% of the total land required for the project. However,...

Twenty years is a good enough time to assess how countries of the world, irrespective of the economic or political system they follow, have performed in promoting human development. Successive Human Development Reports (HDR), since 1990, have mainstreamed health and education as critical indicators of human progress and contributed to international policy structures. For instance, the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at using international financial resources to reduce global poverty, can...

Youth favour sex education in schools More than 20 per cent of girls in Karnataka get married before the age of 18, the minimum legal age for marriage. According to a district-level household and facility survey (DLHS-3, 2010), 11.1 per cent boys and 22.4 per cent girls get married before attaining the minimum legal age for marriage. The average age at marriage for boys in the State is 26.1 years, while for girls...

Launched 20 years ago with the simple line that "people are the real wealth of a nation", the United Nations' Human Development Report has become the most trusted annual indicator of progress in developing nations. The 20th anniversary report charts progress going back 20 years before that first publication - so it is an ambitious attempt to chart development achievements - or not - going back 40 years. The UN Development Programme's...

With the largest number of diabetes patients in the world, India needs to promote a healthier lifestyle among its citizens if it has any chance of battling the disease, experts said Sunday. "Diabetes is either hereditary or lifestyle-related in our country. So now the need is to move away from the sedentary lifestyle," S.K. Wangnoo, senior consultant of endocrinology at the capital's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said in an Interview. According the World...