-The Times of India Within hours of raising cooking gas prices, the government late on Thursday asked oil marketing companies to put on hold the Rs 26.50 hike, calling into question the seriousness of the deregulation plan and casting a doubt over the UPA's commitment to fiscal reforms. The U-turn came after a volley of protests by the opposition and days before Himachal Pradesh goes to polls, with Gujarat elections to follow....

-The Hindu Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are taking steps to rewrite the unconstitutional law on beggary and decriminalise poverty According to the 1959 law on beggary, Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, anyone perceived as having “no visible means of subsistence” and “wandering about” can be branded a beggar and detained in certified institutions for a period of not less than one year and up to 10 years for second time offenders. For many...

-The Hindu Women continue to be invisible to planners, despite their high levels of contribution to the national economy, says a UN Women paper on women and forests Some of the present policies in forest management are detrimental to the poor, particularly women, states a UN Women paper by NC Saxena, member National Advisory Council, even as he suggests changes that could ameliorate their condition. Despite economic growth, gender inequalities in “critical human development...

-The Indian Express The International Monetary Fund’s recent downgrading of the growth forecast for India from 6.2 per cent to 4.9 per cent for 2012, which came on the heels of the decline in the actual growth rate to below 5.5 per cent in the first half of 2012, has brought reforms back to the centrestage of the policy discourse. Which reforms are needed and why? India’s growth trajectory has been unique....

-The Times of India If you have a domestic help below the age of 14 years, then the authorities may soon visit your house and send her to school. The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the central and state governments to conduct a countrywide drive to identify children below 14 years engaged as domestic helps and send them to school to fulfill the mandate of the Right to Education Act for their...