The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed writer Pinky Virani's euthanasia plea for comatose sodomy victim Aruna Shanbaug but laid down certain guidelines for mercy killing which it said will hold till the Parliament formulates a law. The court dismissed Virani's plea because it held she is not the 'next friend' of the victim but the staff of KEM Hospital in Mumbai were. The staff of KEM Hospital were opposed to allowing...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

The need for the media to take voluntary, not paid, ownership of creating awareness for better participation of voters in the election process was recommended at a roundtable on the “Role of media in building voters' awareness” here on Friday. The recommendation was part of a national consultation on voters' participation organised by the Election Commission (EC). Other roundtables at the consultation pertained to fighting urban apathy, connecting with youth in...

The budget has allocated of total Rs160,887 crore, or 36.4% Plan allocation, to the social sector. The Bharat Nirman group of welfare schemes has together been allocated Rs58,000 crore. The income of workers and helpers at anganwadis, or government-run day-care centres, has been doubled. The move is expected to benefit nearly 2.2 million people. However, it has not been replicated for voluntary accredited social health activists of the National Rural...

The possibility of the voluntary nature of the unique identity number project becoming virtually a compulsion in the light of entitlements being linked to the scheme saw members of a parliamentary panel quiz UID chief Nandan Nilekani about its pitfalls. At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Friday, MPs told Nilekani that despite his claims that the UID is merely a number — not indicative of citizenship, caste or...