India’s plan to offer unique identity (UID) cards to all citizens will bring a range of banking services within reach of millions of poor who currently cannot even open a bank account, says a report released on Friday by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is executing the project. Facilities such as microfinance are beyond the reach of many poor people in both towns and villages who do not...

Disability rights groups are up in arms against a Bill proposing an amendment to the Copyright Act, 1952, that prevents non-governmental organisations, educational institutions and persons with disabilities from converting reading material including textbooks and reference material into audio, digital and other formats that can be used by differently-abled persons. The amendment Bill, introduced in the Rajya Sabha this week, if passed in its current form, will prevent over 70 million...

The government is spending billions of dollars on welfare schemes, and plans even more this year. But that is news to Poona, whose daughter may soon die from that stain on India's growth story -- malnutrition. Poona, who married at 14 and breaks quarry stones for a living, shielded her daughter's sunken face from a harsh summer sun with her blue sari. She does not know Urmila's weight, but the...

“85-90 per cent disposal done in unorganised sector”  Minister says he is against import of used computers in the name of charity Computers, Mobiles and other electronic gadgets become e-waste at the end of their life cycle Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh announced in the Rajya Sabha on Monday that the government proposed to come out with a new set of rules for disposal of e-waste by May...

For nearly three decades, Selvi V. has lived in a village in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, 75km from Chennai, without a toilet. And there really wasn’t any need felt to have one in this family of daily wage farm labourers. Selvi and her now-married daughter would wake up either early every morning or wait until dark to relieve themselves in a thicket of thorny shrubs a little distance...