After 4,000 deaths and 19,000 victims over seven years, encephalitis has made it to the election manifestoes of most parties in Uttar Pradesh in 2012. On ground zero in eastern Uttar Pradesh, however, it is still to figure in the candidates’ campaign. Voters are angry and frustrated but say they are not surprised. Some are determined not to vote at all on February 8 and 11, when the seats in these...

-Press Information Bureau As per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin, December 2011 released by the Registrar General of India (RGI), it is noted that  Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has dropped further by  3 points from 50 to 47 infants deaths per 1000 live births during 2010.  The IMR for rural areas has dropped by 4 points from 55 to 51 infant deaths per 1000 live births while the Urban...

More than 80 per cent complaints filed under the seven-year-old domestic violence act have been declared too trivial for such a law to address, raising fears that it is being used to settle scores while graver atrocities go unreported. However, the nature of many complaints also suggests that women are no longer willing to play a subservient role in marital life. The highest number of complaints related to charges that the husband...

-The Telegraph     A non-government environmental agency claimed today that it has uncovered a scam in the solar power mission where, it said, a private firm has used front companies to circumvent government rules for solar power projects. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said its three-month-long investigation suggested that the company had used unfair practices to grab lucrative projects under the first phase of the solar mission that hopes to add...

Valley’s youth say peaceful political protests are the most effective means for achieving political aspirations. Estrangement from India is matched by the lack of interest in Pakistan In 2010 the Ministry of Home Affairs had commissioned a focussed survey on the priorities and aspirations of Kashmir’s new generation, which had spearheaded the long spell of unrest, and found that 54 per cent of them identified “Azadi” as their preferred “final status...