-The Hindu   The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has rejected the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) Bill, which was meant to give a legal backing to the Aadhaar project and its aim of using biometrics to create a unique identity for every resident of India. Sources in the Committee say the Bill has been rejected in its current form on the grounds of the project's high cost, as well as concerns...

-The Times of India   Domestic helps would find it easier to complain against sexual harassment if the recommendations of a parliamentary panel favouring their inclusion in the proposed 'protection of women against sexual harassment in workplace' Bill are accepted. Dismissing the government's view that there were "practical difficulties" in implementing the law within the confines of a home, the committee on Thursday said such excuses could not be used as a...

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is set to recommend that the government withdraw the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010, reports India Today, citing unnamed sources. The recommendation is to withdraw the Bill and introduce another one, because members of the standing committee found the project directionless, and that the Bill and the project are not acceptable in their present form, the report states. It doesn’t quite mention...

-The United Nations   Television should be made more accessible to persons with disabilities, argues a new United Nations report released today, which identifies different accessibility options that would enable users to fully access audiovisual content. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, more than 1.4 billion households worldwide have a TV, representing 98 per cent of homes in developed countries and almost...

-BBC   Inequality in earnings has doubled in India over the past two decades, a new report says, making it one of the worst performers among emerging economies. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says the top 10% of wage-earners make 12 times more than the bottom 10%, compared to six times 20 years ago. The OECD says India has the highest number of poor in the world. Some 42% of its 1.21...