The Centre is set to make it compulsory that 4% of its annual purchases be made from the units run by dalits and tribals, in what will be its strongest bait for classes which hold the key to political battles at the Centre and states. The 4% purchase quota proposal from ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) is part of the policy that 20% of government procurement be...

-The Deccan Herald   Applicants can seek info on more subjects In a landmark decision that would enthuse RTI applicants and activists across the country, the Central Information Commission has said it is not necessary for information seekers to limit RTI applications ''to only one subject matter''. Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, in a sharp departure from the Commission’s earlier decisions, observed: “There is no legal requirement on an applicant’s part to restrict the scope...

India Inc too wants an honest day’s work On August 22, a public holiday across north India, Sunil Sirohi, a middle-aged IT executive, joined Ramlila Maidan’s anti-corruption agitators with wife Jyoti and a pre-teen son. “It’s the first such movement we’ve been part of,” he says. One of the attractions was bringing young Siddhartha up-to-date on Anna Hazare, the self-styled Gandhian from Maharashtra who has become the public face of...

Maharashtra Minister launches “Save the Girl Child” campaign to curb sex-selective abortions In a packed cultural hall in Chandrapur, poor acoustics did not take away from a serious play on female foeticide. The voices of the actors went high and low as mikes were pushed hastily towards them. At the end of the play, there was a poignant appeal from an unborn girl who asked for a chance to live. On Sunday...

In the name of God, hapless girls are still being made to become devadasis which in stark terms means being raped by the priests, secretly auctioned to brothels and finally dying of AIDS. Deebashree Mohanty speaks to a few of these unfortunate women who died everyday of their life for a farce called service of the God I was nine when I got married to my village deity Yellamma. The mahajan,...