-The Times of India Laying down stringent procedures to curb and punish harassment of women in public transport, the Supreme Court has ordered that in the event of a complaint of a woman, the bus driver must immediately drive the vehicle to the nearest police station. If the driver fails to do so, authorities must cancel his permit to ply. This is part of a series of directions issued on Friday by...

-The Financial Express The massive scale and complexity of major subsidy schemes are likely to delay the ambitious plan of limiting state subsidy on food, fertiliser and petroleum products only to the poor by directly transferring cash to their bank accounts using a unique identity number (Aadhaar). While other cash payments like pension, scholarship, wage under rural job guarantee scheme can be transferred directly to the beneficiary’s bank account, it is difficult...

-The Economic Times Something interesting happened in Mumbai last month. For the first time ever, Harvard Business School stepped out of its Boston campus to bring its leadership and corporate accountability programme for senior corporate executives to India. The programme focuses on promoting socially and financially responsible corporate conduct. In an environment where scams and business scandals are making headlines every day, the turnout for the four-day programme was expectedly impressive. "Corruption...

-Tehelka On its fifth and the last day, the Assembly demands recognition of ASHA and aanganwadi workers as govt employees The People’s Assembly being held at Jantar Mantar concluded on Friday 30 November with the release of a draft preliminary manifesto. The manifesto consists of resolutions adopted by the Assembly on issues like health, education, land acquisition and Lokpal Bill, among others. “We will intensify our demands with the People’s Manifesto and...

-The Hindu The U.S. special supplement scheme for women, infants and children to prevent undernutrition is a model that India can learn from India’s economic growth over the last 15 years, and the growing size of the middle class, have become a source of attraction for international investors, especially in the retail food industry. However, the gap between the rich and the poor has only widened: nearly 40 per cent of the...