-The Times of India In the cleaning of nearly 13 lakh insanitary dry toilets across the country, human beings and animals play an almost equal role, the Supreme Court was told on Monday. In what could deal a severe blow to the sanitation claims of successive governments, petitioner NGO 'Safai Karmachari Andolan' culled out data from the 2011 census report to inform the court that 4.97 lakh dry toilets were "serviced by...

-The Hindu In her article in The Hindu, (“Nailing the lie of the land,” Op-Ed, August 23, 2012), Ms Medha Patkar has forcefully and with reason argued against the devastating consequences of land acquisition. Without getting into the concerns raised with regard to the larger “development model” we would like to respond to the issues she has raised with the proposed Bill on Land Acquisition which seem predicated on an understanding...

-Frontline Health activists say the health chapter of the Twelfth Plan document exaggerates the role of the private sector in providing health care. The draft chapter on health for the Twelfth Five Year Plan document not only is grossly inadequate in its approach but exaggerates to unrealistic levels the role of the private sector in providing health care. It invokes the concept of universal health care (UHC), but, critics say, it...

-PTI Centre today announced a hike in allocation of grants for construction of houses for BPL families under the Indira Awas Yojana from Rs 45,000 to Rs 75,000 per dwelling unit. For hilly and Naxal affected areas, the grants for constructing houses under the scheme will go up from Rs 48,500 crore to Rs 80000, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said here. "The outlay for IAY in 2012-2013 was Rs 11000 crore and...

-The Asian Age Stating that many serious irregularities have come to light in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in some districts of Karnataka , Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday took the Karnataka government to task for failing to take action. Speaking to media persons after visiting family toilets built under the Parishud Grama Yojana by Infosys Foundation at Gamvar village in Jewargi...