Reconsidering its earlier decision, the United Progressive Alliance government is now contemplating not to give direct inclusion to all members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities in the proposed BPL list if one goes by the modalities being laid out for conducting the census. Their inclusion will now be based on their Ranking obtained from the number of deprivation indicators they satisfy. Similarly, minorities too don't get the same...

Census 2011 has brought glad tidings on the literacy front. Delhi's literacy rate - recorded as 86.34% - has gone up by 4.67% in comparison to Census 2001, which recorded a literacy rate of 81.67%. One of the significant developments is the narrowing of the gap between male and female literacy rate - a drop of 2.53% - which is also the highest dip recorded so far. The difference between...

Authorities in Chandigarh don't seem to be doing enough for raising literacy rate as compared to other states and union territories. In 2011, the city came down to eighth position on the all-India literacy list. In the 2001 census, it had the sixth highest literacy rate in the country. This happened in spite of increase in overall literacy here. Though Chandigarh has achieved the Planning Commission target of 85% literacy, it couldn't...

Three women assaulted, three men killed, hundreds rendered homeless in course of five-day operation The operation began in the early hours of March 11 when about 350 heavily armed troopers marched into the forests of Dantewada. They returned to their barracks five days later, with three villages aflame, about 300 homes and granaries incinerated, three villagers and three security personnel dead, and three women sexually assaulted, the victims and several...

The Budget should be an instrument of economic discipline and a promoter of healthy social development. As it is, it is like a leaky tap; it cannot halt inflation without disciplining political skulduggery. March 21, 2011:   A lot has been written about the Budget, how it affects this or that industry or business, or how it will increase or decrease the GNP growth rate. Undoubtedly, all those factors are important. But...