At a time that land in urban centres, especially in the big metropolitan cities, is at a premium, a Working Group of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) has suggested that, as far as possible, slum dwellers should be resettled at the spot where they are currently living, rather than displacing them, so that they continue to remain close to their places of work. NAC sources said the Working...

-AP Severe stress on food, water and jobs She's a 40-year-old mother of eight, with a ninth child due soon. The family homestead in a Burundi village is too small to provide enough food, and three of the children have quit school for lack of money to pay required fees. “I regret to have made all those children,” says Godelive Ndageramiwe. “If I were to start over, I would only make two or...

First such verdict by Election Commission The Election Commission delivered a historic verdict on Thursday by disqualifying Uttar Pradesh MLA Umlesh Yadav from contesting again for three years for not including in her official accounts of expenditure the amount she spent on advertisements in two Hindi dailies that were masquerading as news items. Umlesh Yadav is the wife of liquor baron and billionaire strongman D.P. Yadav and mother of Vikas Yadav, the...

Act had been criticised for infringing on civil liberties, being arbitrary   The Jammu and Kashmir government has approved amendments in the Public Safety Act (PSA), which had come under criticism for being arbitrary and infringing upon the civil liberties of the people. Official sources said that the amendments were approved during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah here on Wednesday. The amendment Bill, sources said, would prevent the slapping...

Centre delinks access to welfare schemes from poverty line NUMBER of people who can benefit from government’s welfare programmes is going to swell. Currently, the Central government caps the entitlements under most welfare programmes to those below the poverty line, which is as low as Rs 12/day/person for rural areas and Rs 18/day/person for urban areas. State governments have been opposing this mechanism. In future, the ongoing socio-economic and caste census...