-The Business Standard Moving forward on sanitation will require big ideas National shame” is how most people, including some senior government functionaries, often refer to the pervasive practice of open defecation. Yet, the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), launched in 1991 with the noble objective of providing access to hygienic toilets for all by 2012, receives only scant attention from the government. The latest assessment indicates that as many as 22 states will...

There is a rush to cash in on micronutrient deficiency in India through fortification of food Andhra Pradesh Foods, a state government enterprise, is ramping up its fortified food production capacity. It provides ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods like upma mix, sweet porridge and khichdi mix, fortified with iron, zinc and other vitamins, to infants and pregnant and lactating women under the Centre’s Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The effort to double its...

-The Hindu Inclusive growth can be possible only in an inclusive society, Bhalchandra Mungekar, president, Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, said on Monday. Scheduled castes and tribes, and minorities constitute a majority among the people below poverty line, accounting for one-third of the country's population. Existence of 40 crore people below poverty line even 60 years after Independence was a cause for immense concern, Dr. Mungekar said, cautioning that the situation was...

The government is considering to make changes in existing laws to abolish all forms of child labour under 18 years.  A government panel has recommended amendment to Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act that makes distinction between hazardous and non-hazardous categories of work for children under 14 years.  Child rights activists has been demanding for a revision in the definition of child labour to bring uniformity in all laws, and recognize all...

Public hearing throws light on discrimination, violence When Norti Bai, sarpanch of Harmara in Rajasthan, refused to give in to the demands of upper caste men in her village, her daughter-in-law Ram Peari was branded a “witch.” The villagers called for Peari's “social boycott” and excommunication. In Alwar district in the State, Sunita Bairwa of Bahedakhah was assaulted because the upper castes were unhappy about a Dalit being elevated to sarpanch. These...