-The Hindu Figuring out key parameters on which to measure a State’s performance provides a playbook of best practices for others to follow. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (MGNREGA) aims at “enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.” In the financial year...

-Hindustan Times India has the largest population of modern slaves in the world with more than 18 million people trapped as bonded labourers, forced beggars, sex workers and child soldiers, a global survey report said on Monday. The Global Slavery Index by human rights organisation Walk Free Foundation said the number was 1.4% of India’s population, the fourth highest among 167 countries with the largest proportion of slaves. “Existing research suggests all forms...

-The Indian Express At present, Delhi has four landfill sites and three of them operate beyond capacity. New Delhi: In a city where population increases at about 3.5 per cent per annum and the per capita waste generated rises by 1.3 per cent in the same period, devoting additional land to efficiently treat and dispose of the garbage generated is posing a problem. Delhi needs more than 1,500 acres for the purpose,...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: A young man who flew in from Delhi for 16 hours just to cast his vote has provided a clue why Bengal has recorded the highest number of votes under the Nota (none of the above) option among the five poll-bound states. The man in his 30s, who works with a global watchmaker, said he spent Rs 20,000 on air tickets to cast a Nota vote because not one...

-The Indian Express Organisation that played a big role in state to make RTI a national Act to write to Chief Minister on the issue Jaipur: After doing away with references to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and several other other freedom fighters from school History curriculum, the Rajasthan government’s revised syllabus has also removed a page highlighting the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A prominent section on page 105, which...