-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Census 2021 will for the first time seek information from households on smartphones, DTH/Cable TV connection, internet access, number of members of households having bank accounts, ownership of house other than the rented accommodation of a household, bottled water availability and mobile number as part of the houselisting procedure. Importantly, the latest census, as per the existing plan, will not collect caste data. While the socio-economic...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Hundreds of patients, including those requiring emergency treatment, were turned away by Delhi’s top public hospitals on Friday, the second day of the strike called by resident doctors protesting against the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. A 14-year-old girl, who had come to Safdarjung Hospital with chest pain, wasn’t admitted into the emergency ward. “The doctors said my condition was not life-threatening and asked me to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: About 100 district court complexes in the country out of 665 have no toilets for women. And those which have washrooms, only 40% are fully functional, according to a latest survey of all the district courts across the country. Half of the district courts in the country had no designated waiting areas while only 39% were full service court complexes with post office, bank branch,...

-The Hindu The figure quoted by the government fails to completely take into consideration deliveries in private hospitals. Female foeticide continues to increase at an alarming rate, as per the Sample Registration System (SRS) data released in July for the period 2015-2017. The sex ratio at birth (SRB) has been dropping continuously since Census 2011, coming down from 909 girls per thousand boys in 2011-2013 to 896 girls in 2015-2017, to quote...

-The Hindu Business Line How a cluster of villages in Rajasthan embraced transparency, spurred a nationwide movement and inspired the birth of a digital portal to counter the dilution of the RTI The walls were painted a bright yellow. Drawn on them in black were statements of income and expenditure, breaking down figures in meticulous detail with rows and columns stretching across two and sometimes three floors. The paintings weren’t just on...