-The Economic Times Rajan Mittal resigned as director of Bharti Retail last November, barely weeks after the Enforcement Directorate launched a probe into a controversial $100-million investment by Walmart Stores in Cedar Support Services, the holding company of the retail venture. A Bharti spokesman said Mittal had resigned from the board last year to "take out time for his other commitments" and has been replaced by Bharti Group's general counsel and...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Unmindful of the chief minister himself telling the legislature that it is the Centre's directive that unless a district has 80% registration, providing subsidies through Aadhaar cannot be undertaken, citizens are being coerced into getting a UID number. "When we informed the school principal that Parliament is yet to pass the Bill, she categorically told us that there was no harm in obtaining the card. The deadline...

-The Hindu     Enhancing the basket of contraceptive choices can reduce maternal mortality rate, says a family planning review Family planning has made a silent comeback in the national discourses. This time, focussing more on concomitant improvement in the health of the people rather than limiting the number of children. India had changed its strategy on family planning in 2010 with the other developing countries from that of merely reducing population to that of...

-The Hindu     Lakshmi Puri calls for greater political momentum on Women's Reservation Bill "My ambition for my country is it should become a democracy for women, by women and of women. This revolution is happening at the local level but [it] should also happen at the State and national level," said Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and acting head of U.N. Women. She believes much progress has been made by...

-The Times of India It is universally recognised that for ensuring people's participation in governance and holistic development, the best instrumentality is local government. So when Parliament passed the 73rd Constitution Amendment Bill on December 23, 1992 to enshrine the essential features of panchayats in the Constitution, this was hailed as historic. But where do our panchayats stand 20 years after becoming institutions of self-government? A big issue before the founders of...