-The Hindu Business Line It requires a change in mindset to reverse declining sex ratios. The state-wise child sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males in 0-6 years age group) in India during 2001-2011 declined except in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Mizoram, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu (see table). Interestingly, these are the same states that had recorded a significant fall in child sex ratio during 1991-2001. Adverse child sex ratio can have...

-IANS NEW DELHI: With urbanisation and infrastructural development taking place rapidly in the national capital, the forest department has been struggling with land to plant trees, an official said Thursday. Speaking at a public lecture, 'Delhi's Dying Trees', city's chief conservator of forest AK Shukla said hundreds of trees have been felled in the last one decade to build roads, flyovers, Delhi Metro and other infrastructure in the city. "Trees are felled to...

-Down to Earth The country's 76 million poor have been denied the right to claim subsidised foodgrain under public distribution system The government has denied 76 million people in the country eligible to access public distribution system (PDS) the benefits of the food security system. For the past 20 years, the government has not cared to refresh its data and has been distributing foodgrain according to the population figure of 1991. Worse, the...

-The Indian Express     Chandigarh: To meet the long-pending demand of private schools, the UT Education Department has finally initiated the process of reimbursing the bills submitted by private schools regarding the expenditure incurred on the economic weaker section (EWS) students and disadvantaged groups admitted under the RTE Act for the past three years. To verify the bills, the department has asked the schools to submit documents containing information regarding the number of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The UPA is strenuously denying that this campaign is its earthy version of the NDA's "India Shining" campaign, but few are buying the denials. Launched as a "multi-media" campaign to highlight its achievements in two successive terms at the Center, it has been christened by political observers are UPA's " Bharat Smiling" campaign. The spirit of the campaign, says the publicity material given out by the...