Shalini Nair

The policy was to be operationalised and its implementation monitored through an inter-ministerial committee headed by Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi, and similar state-level committees were to be set up, headed by the respective chief ministers.

Ram Shankar Katheria said that the HRD Ministry, UGC and the National Commission for Minorities have confirmed that the AMU does not enjoy minority status.

The panel also asked for recognising ‘alternative family structures’ of transgender persons such as the Hijra or Aravani family system, wherein the community elders adopt young transgender children.

The sub-group was constituted following the NITI Aayog governing council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet the NDA’s promise of doubling farmers income by 2022.

With an eye on the elections next year, the Union government has proposed to expand the scope of the rural employment guarantee act so as to “align works under MGNREGA fully to the requirements of achieving the goal of higher farmer’s income”.

In a bid to accelerate PMAY-U's target of providing ‘housing for all', the ministry will invite ideas for innovative technologies for mass housing projects that can help build houses faster, cheaper, and of better quality, with sustainable green materials.

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said, “We have taken suo motu cognizance of the report. We are going to send a fact-finding team mid-July to find out what exactly is happening, the team will also question the authorities.”

Why Madhya Pradesh’s stringent laws on child rape have done nothing to help minor Bachhada girls, who are forced into caste-sanctioned prostitution.

Presently, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) has strong provisions against child sexual abuse, but the reporting of offences by survivors much later in life is a legal grey area.

The report highlights that Supreme Court ruling in the SC/ST Act would make legal recourse more inaccessible for Dalit women.

While the numbers are an improvement from before, when a majority of states denied the existence of the practice, it is still a gross underestimate as it includes data from only 121 of the more than 600 districts in the country.

Union government officials state that the non-cooperation of these states could result in the Centre being held legally accountable for not covering all states as required of it under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

Ramdas Athawale said police should investigate the role of Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide for allegedly instigating the violence against Dalits on January 1.

Thaawarchand Gehlot said the ruling will set at rest all allegations, especially in the wake of the order on the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, that the government was trying to end reservation and other safeguards for SC/STs through courts.

Also on the CEGC member-list is Sudhir Aggarwal, a BJP member who is “founder-president, Confederation of Voluntary Organizations” and who describes himself as a “swayam sevak since childhood” on his website.

Initiatives taken for urbanisation, women at workplace; panel set up with eye on subordinate OBC groups

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is expected to finalise the policy, which will form the blueprint for urban planning, by July-end after MoS Hardeep Singh Puri holds consultations with states.

More than two-thirds of India’s 640 districts, mainly in north and central India, have high to very high levels of stunting.

Social Justice Ministry invites feedback on panel recommendation