-The Hindu The Planning Commission needed to be returned to its first purposes, to its transparent and audacious planning for an India progressing without old enervations and new injustices to prosperity. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. The 18th century nursery rhyme, its original probably a riddle, is loved for the one image it invokes - a great fall. The picture of a dumpy egg, of a being...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A Constitution bench has ruled that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are entitled to affirmative action in promotions, quashing a 1997 government memo that withdrew the benefit. Friday's verdict by the five-judge Supreme Court bench does not necessarily mean that the Centre and state governments - to which the judgment applies equally - are bound to offer benefits in promotion to all Dalit and tribal employees from...

-Down to Earth   Most severely and consistently excluded groups are women, Adivasis, Muslims and the disabled, report confirms A recent report by a Delhi NGO undermines government claims on reaching welfare schemes to the needy and disadvantaged sections of society. The report, titled The India Exclusion Report 2013-14, says the government has failed miserably in providing equal access to public goods to the most disadvantaged groups. The report, prepared by Delhi-based Centre for...

-The Pioneer   Bhubaneswar: Home is an integral part of life and determinant of standard of living and progress of society. Rural Odisha witnesses a very poor standard of habitation and lack of proper housing for lakhs of poor people who are dreaming of a house of their own to live with dignity. Socio-cultural barriers, landlessness and lack of credit for housing are some of the major reasons which deprive rural poor of...

-The Hindu   Where prison facilities are not equipped to deal with the specific needs of persons with disabilities, arrest and detention in custody should be a measure of last resort We have a slew of cases around prisoners' rights that emphasise their right to dignity and their right against cruel and degrading punishment, which have been understood to violate the right to life, guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. In...