Araria, Bihar: Exactly a year ago, just before the rains, Kumiya Devi got her three-decimal (1,306.8-square foot) plot at Kajra in Araria district under the Mahadalit Vikas Yojana, the Nitish Kumar government’s showpiece scheme to distribute land to landless Dalits.   Before she could build her home, a seasonal stream flooded the plot and her 10-year-old son Aklu drowned in it while going to school. Reason: there was no approach road to...

SANGLI/ SATARA: Open trailers packed with families and cattle have become a common sight along Maharashtra's highways - a telling sign of the distress the drought in 15 districts of the state has brought with it. Truckloads of villagers are migrating from the hinterland to cities like Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur in desperate search for livelihood. While many officials deny the drought-driven migration, the absence of male heads in rural homes...

Rohtak: Children living at a shelter run by an NGO here were sexually abused, beaten, molested and made to work as labourers on farms and construction sites, a raid by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has uncovered. The girls recounted tales of horror during the raid on Wednesday night at the shelter run by NGO Bharat Vikas Sangh, which won a Haryana state award for women's empowerment in...

Raising the bar on child labour, the government is set to debar employment of children below the age of 14 in any industry. Only those between 14 to 18 years can be employed except in hazardous industries. The existing Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, allows employment of children of up to 14 years of age in the industries not considered to be hazardous. Hazardous industries include tobacco, stone crushing,...

-The Deccan Herald 25 pc quota in pvt schools will open floodgates of opportunities, say children   Private school managements have decided to seek an year’s time for the implementation of the Supreme Court order over providing 25 per cent reservation for students from “weaker sections”. With hardly a month left for the new academic year to start, officials have their hands full, trying to figure out the best way to implement the Right...