Social priorities have received scant fiscal attention There is good reason to feel let down by this year’s budget for the advancement of social sectors. The disappointment is more given that the Union finance minister opened his speech by stating that “we are reaching the end of a remarkable fiscal year” and followed it up by immediate assertions that “growth in 2010-11 has been swift and broad-based”, that “the economy...

Delhi Government is gearing up to commence work on bringing the entire city under the "Adhar" project wherein every person will be enrolled and issued a Unique Identification Number. The state has set October as the deadline for completing the UID enrolment exercise. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday chaired a meeting to review the status of the UID project. The meeting was attended by education minister Arvinder Singh, urban development...

Two key issues Budget-2011 is seen as having failed to address are inflation and mass hunger. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced in his budget speech that the long-promised National Food Security Bill would be moved in Parliament “during the course of this year” but failed to make any financial allocation to back up this statement. Against the backdrop of fresh warnings by experts that the outlook is grim given the...

The United States must do more to eliminate discrimination in access to safe drinking water and sanitation, an independent United Nations expert reported today, citing wide disparities that adversely affect people of colour and Native Americans. “I am concerned that several laws, policies and practices, while appearing neutral at face value, have a disproportionate impact on the enjoyment of human rights by certain groups,” said UN independent expert Catarina de Albuquerque,...

The four years of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) have shown that it is possible to fight all forms of violence against children including child labour, corporal punishment, child abuse and discrimination. Speaking at the fourth foundation day celebrations here on Saturday, NCPCR chairperson Shantha Sinha said moving away from a welfare approach to a rights-based perspective had been the first important step. “To actualise rights of...