-Frontline   A study on untouchability practices in 1,589 villages in Gujarat provides critical data for the Dalit movement to shape its interventions at the national and international levels. DESPITE laws making it punishable, untouchability continues to exist in the country in a vicious manner. A study titled "Understanding Untouchability: A Comprehensive Study of Practices and Conditions in 1,589 villages", conducted in Gujarat by the Navsarjan Trust, an organisation that promotes the...

-Live Mint To alleviate poverty and extend true food security to its people India must bring efficiency to public expenditures In the Indian economy, where almost half of the average household's expenditures goes toward food and half the labour force is engaged in agriculture, one cannot simply wish away the centrality of agriculture just because its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around a comparatively low 14%. India's agriculture is responsible...

-The Indian Express   The report was released at a Delhi state-wide conference on the Right to Education Act by Indus Action - an NGO.   New Delhi: Only four per cent of parents from economically weaker sections (EWS) are aware about the availability of 25 per cent seats under EWS category in the capital's private schools, under the RTE Act, a study has shown.   The study also found that only half of these four...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday created the "third gender" status for hijras or transgenders. Earlier, they were forced to write male or female against their sex. The SC asked the Centre to treat transgender as socially and economically backward. The apex court said that transgenders will be allowed admission in educational institutions and given employment on the basis that they belonged...

-PTI Jayalalithaa has alloted four of the 39 seats across the state to women and M Karunanidhi named only two women candidates. Chennai: None of the six major political parties in Tamil Nadu have given sufficient representation to the fairer sex in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in the state despite having claimed to espouse the cause of women in Parliament. While ruling party AIADMK, which is captained by one of the...