-The Hindu Recognising pre-natal sex selection as an unacceptable form of gender discrimination, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had asked key States across the country to submit a report on implementation of the Pre-conception & Pre-natal Diagnostics Techniques (PCPNDT) Regulations and Prevention of Misuse Act (Amendments in 2004) based on a set of recommendations issued by the NHRC. A reporting format was also sent to all stakeholders. But over a year...

-Outlook Rising income levels in rural areas have led to an unprecedented demand for protein-based food items, leading to sustained pressure in headline inflation, says a Crisil report. "Rising incomes in rural areas are fuelling greater spends on protein products such as milk, eggs and meat in the hinterland. Overall spending in the country on protein food doubled to Rs 2 lakh crore in 2009-10 from 2004-05. Two-thirds, or Rs 1.33 trillion,...

-The Hindu The proposal for an urban health initiative with focus on primary health care for the urban poor has been cleared by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and will soon be placed before the Cabinet. This was announced by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during a meeting of the Mission Steering Group of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) here on Tuesday. There has been an on-going tussle...

-Down to Earth 'Will the Indian government abandon mining projects to protect us?' ask residents of Singrauli who face displacement because of Mahan coal project Ever since India assumed presidency of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on October 8, it has never missed a chance to reiterate its commitment to conserving biodiversity and protecting indigenous people and their traditional knowledge. Indian officials attending the ongoing CoP 11 meet at Hyderabad have...

-Pratirodh.com Biometric data based 12 digit Unique Identification (UID)-Aadhaar Number linked welfare schemes is being bulldozed with 2014 elections in mind with the ulterior motive of altering voting behavior of the citizens by creating a ‘universal identity infrastructure’ linked to ‘unified payment infrastructure’.   Ahead of next parliamentary elections, with the launch of 21st crore UID-Aadhaar Number and Aadhaar Enabled Service Delivery (AESD) on October 20, 2012 contemptuously ignores Parliament, Parliamentary Committee,...