-Economic and Political Weekly A survey to identify who the poor are and how many are actually poor is necessary if programmes and benefits targeted at the needy are to reach them. The Socio Economic Caste Census, of which partial results have been published, was intended to do this. Yet, even a cursory look at the figures indicates that they call for a willing suspension of disbelief. N C Saxena (naresh.saxena@gmail.com) was...
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DNA profiling bill allows for 'intimate' samples -Manoj Mitta
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The human DNA profiling Bill, as recommended by an official expert committee, has controversial clauses dealing with "issues relating to pedigree" and introducing an intrusive mode of collecting samples from living persons called "intimate forensic procedure". This procedure detailed in the draft Bill due to be introduced in the current session of Parliament involves collection of "intimate body samples" of living persons from "the genital or...
More »The scariest bill in Parliament is getting no attention – here’s what you need to know about it -Nayantara Narayanan
-Scroll.in A bill proposes creation of a national DNA data bank, without requisite safeguards for privacy, and opens the information to everything from civic disputes to compilation of statistics. On Wednesday, the Narendra Modi government told the Supreme Court that India's citizen's have no fundamental right to privacy. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi referred to a 1950 court verdict which held that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right while defending...
More »Women account for 2% of central forces, but 40% of suicides
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Women constitute less than 2% of all central paramilitary personnel but account for over 40% of the suicides in these forces, data collated from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the Bureaunv of Police Research & Development (BPRD) shows. The recently released NCRB data on accidental deaths and suicides shows that in 2014, 175 people in central armed police forces - which include the BSF,...
More »Malnutrition glare on Gujarat -Ananya Sengupta
-The Telegraph New Delhi: For 10 months, the Narendra Modi administration withheld from the public the findings of a study by India's government and Unicef that charts "unprecedented" improvement in child malnutrition over the past decade but shows Gujarat in an unflattering light. Under pressure after The Economist reported the findings a fortnight ago, the government last week released the national-level data from the Rapid Survey on Children. But it is still...
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