Many Bangladeshi refugees in West Bengal are yet to receive voting rights Try bringing up the topic of the Assembly election with 80-year-old Ramesh Gayen, and he retorts angrily that people like him who don't have any sort of recognition even after living in a country for over 40 years are not “qualified enough” to discuss politics. Mr. Gayen's anger is echoed by Sashadhar Hazra, Kalyani Biswas, Ujjwal Biswas and other...

The population of India’s commercial capital is growing very slowly in the suburbs while it is shrinking in the old city, the preliminary census data on Maharashtra released on Friday shows. Meanwhile, the population of adjoining Thane district has grown explosively at 35.9% between 2001 and 2011, as expensive real estate in the city has pushed people to satellite towns such as Kalyan and Vashi in this district. The shift in people...

Census data released on Thursday has brought some cheer with the revelation that the population growth has finally slowed down in India. Yet, it also pointed towards an alarming fact that the sex ratio in the age group between 0-6 has fallen. Even though, the people claim that they no longer differentiate between male and female offspring, doctors have a sorry tale to narrate. Homemaker, Sangita Acharya said that her five-year-old daughter,...

What can make a real difference to food prices is determined international action to increase food production in regions that are richly endowed with land and water resources High food inflation has been the source of major concern in India for more than a year. Soaring food prices have been the cause of unease internationally as well. A Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) press release of 3 March, 2011 indicates that...

India's effective literacy rate has recorded a 9.2% rise to reach 74.04%, according to provisional data of the 2011 census released on Thursday. Even as there was a sense of achievement at the improvement in the literacy rate, questions are being raised about what constitutes literacy and the real import of the continued high gender gap. Literacy rate improved sharply among females as compared to males. While the effective literacy rate for...