-PTI NAGPUR: A representative of MGNREGA workers has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, drawing his attention towards the plight of persons employed in Vidarbha under the Centre's flagship rural job programme. In the letter, advocate Vinod Tiwari, a leader of MGNREGA Workers Employment Rights Action Committee, has requested Chavan to look into the plight of workers and issue necessary instructions to officials concerned. The committee has alleged that they...

-The Hindu However, the country’s value increased 61 per cent from 1980 to 2012 India has been ranked 136 among 187 countries evaluated for human development index (HDI) — a measure for assessing progress in life expectancy, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living or gross national income per capita. The Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for 2013, released on Thursday, puts India’s HDI value for...

-The Hindu Doctors must avoid the word even in court depositions The Health Ministry has advised doctors not to use the word ‘rape’ in medical reports on sexual assault victims, and even in court depositions. “Rape is not a medical diagnosis, it is a legal definition, hence the word should not be used while forwarding opinion,” says the latest Instruction Manual for Forensic Medical Examination Report of Sexual Assault (Victim) brought out by...

-The Hindu Kota, Rajasthan: The sun is about to set over grey-brown slabs in sandstone quarries in Kota district, Rajasthan. Babulal Khairwa sits at the edge of a quarry and attentively hits a taanki, a chisel shaped like a gigantic nail, placed on the stone with a hammer. Babulal hits the stone with the hammer till it cracks in a straight line. Each 2 by 10 square feet foot slab, or...

-The Hindu New Delhi having ratified the U.N. Convention on the rights of the disabled in 2007, it is time the government enacted fresh legislation to replace the 1995 law The national convention for youth with disabilities earlier this month in New Delhi may not have been greeted with the kind of euphoria that is occasioned whenever the country’s youth-power becomes a talking point. But there were enough indications during the two-day...