-The Hindu Business Line   Arsenic and fluoride contaminated water has condemned millions to live wasted lives in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Business Line visited several villages in the affected regions for this special report by A. Srinivas. Sixty-nine-year-old Renubala Ari of Deganga village in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district is counting her last days. But it is not her death that worries her. Blind in both eyes and with painful...

-Live Mint The experience of Kerala and Tripura shows how panchayati raj can help in the empowerment of women Chulubari (Tripura)/Kanjikuzhy (Kerala): Her relatives warned Hena Das, a resident of Chulubari in Tripura, against taking up political office because it wasn't "meant for women". Das disregarded the warnings. Two years on, she has no regrets. She also has no male colleagues; her fellow representatives on the board of an 12-member panchayat are all...

-The Times of India KANPUR: The Public Information Officers (PIOs) at various government departments in the city are having no knowledge of Right To Information Act (RTI), 2005 and its clauses. Majority of departments have non-law candidates serving the post of PIOs. In the absence of any proper guidance and workshops, these officials face problem in addressing the RTI queries and hence large number of them (RTIs) remain pending. These findings came...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Slum dwellers in Jaipur will shortly get the benefit of a slew of schemes with the selection of the Rajasthan Capital in the National Urban Livelihood Mission. The Rajiv Awas Yojana will also be implemented here from next month for construction of houses for them. Jaipur Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal announced at a discourse on "Urban poverty and strengthening of civil society voices" here on Thursday that special measures would...

-The Hindu   Success stories from the right to education law give no joy when assessments show that children are ill-versed in the 3Rs and classrooms remain discriminatory Three years ago today, India, for the first time in history, made a promise to its children. With the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education coming into effect on April 1, 2010, every child was guaranteed the fundamental right to eight years of...