What was our immediate response to further decline in the child sex ratio in India? Within days of the provisional 2011 Census results (March-April 2011), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reconstituted the Central Supervisory Board for the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex selection) Act 1994 , which had not met for 3 years, and on November 30, 2011 the Ministry of Women and Child Development...

“Total abolition of child labour central to human development” The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has ordered a survey of child labour in five districts of Uttar Pradesh, where a large number of children are employed in carpet industry and other labour intensive units. The survey will include data on the number of children rescued and action taken for their rehabilitation. The survey directive was given by a jury...

-Press Information Bureau   The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing Central Sector, Centrally Sponsored and Special Area Programme for the integrated socio-economic development of all  Scheduled Tribes in the country. These schemes/programmes are meant for welfare of  the tribal people, including those living in Maoist affected areas.  A list of  majorschemes/programmes of the Ministry is Annexed. The Integrated Action Plan (IAP) was approved on 25.11.2010 for 60 selected tribal and backward...

-The Times of India The subsidy for the poor is dwindling, but this has not deterred the government from lining up corporate houses' pockets. Last year, the Centre gave away potential revenue of Rs 4.6 lakh crore on account of various tax exemptions and incentives to industrialists, compared to the Rs 1.54 lakh crore on subsidy to poor and farmers. There are direct tax incentives and exemptions to businesses in the corporate...

Lack of adequate credit - the lifeblood for any company is threatening to derail fledgling attempts by hundreds of dalit entrepreneurs to overcome deep socio-economic barriers and break into mainstream business.  Without credit, such entrepreneurs would also struggle to cash-in on the Rs 7,000-crore business opportunity opened up by the central government's new dalit-friendly sourcing plan, unveiled last month.  Credit disbursements to dalit entrepreneurs through 20-odd schemes run by the Ministry of...