-The Hindustan Times UPA's flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGA) reduces child malnutrition, but only in the short term, says University of Oxford study. The first effort to analyse the effect of NREGA on child nutrition, the study was carried out on infants in 528 households in Durgarpur district of Rajasthan. During the study period, 53% of the households received payment under NREGA. "Participation in NREGA reduced acute malnutrition, but...

-The Hindustan Times Muzaffarnagar: Fresh battle lines are being drawn in Muzaffarnagar's rural areas as Muslims and Jats harden respective stances against the local administration's "inefficient and unfair action" in dealing with communal violence in the past two months. Three panchayats - one Muslim and two Jat - took place on Friday though the administration had banned these after Jats returning from a Mahapanchayat on September 7 were attacked at various villages....

-The Times of India HUSSAINPUR (Muzaffarnagar, UP): Diwali was meant to be a happy day for many families in Hussainpur. It was decided, says village pradhan Shaista's husband, Shahnawaz Khan, that some Muslims who had taken shelter from the neighbouring Mohammadpur-Raisingh village during the recent riots would go back to their homes shortly after the festival of lights on coming Sunday. But the killings of three Muslim boys on Wednesday has again...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's claim that UPA had forgotten Sardar Patel till this year is far off the mark. The government's publicity arm, directorate of advertising and visual publicity (DAVP), has spent Rs 8.5 crore in advertisements to commemorate Sardar Patel's birth anniversary over the last four years. Ironically, the shoe may be on the other foot. In its tenure - between 1999 and...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Against the backdrop of increasing violence against women and children across the country, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development had launched the ‘Ahimsa Messenger' Programme in last August to address the critical issue at the grass roots level through creating numerous Ahimsa Messengers. The messengers would be generating awareness on basic legal rights, procedures and provisions amongst women and children; they would also serve as link...