Think India Foundation

Child rights commission to be set up in West Bengal

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:31:44 PST

Kolkata : The State Cabinet will soon approve the proposal for the formation of a commission for the protection of child rights in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee with the beneficiaries of a Labour department scheme “The structure for the seven-member West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights has been finalised. It has been formulated on the basis of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005,” said a senior state government official. The proposal was mooted in the wake of an increase in child abuse incidents in the state. Read more Source : indianexpress.com

Orissa govt sets rules for foreigners

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:25:01 PST

Bhubaneswar : In the wake of the controversial Jarawa video, the Orissa government on Saturday drew up guidelines for foreign tourists and researchers who want to visit the “particularly vulnerable tribal groups” (PVTG) such as Bondas and Dongaria Kondh tribes in the state. The government said foreign tourists and researchers would have to get the district magistrate’s permission to visit areas inhabited by such tribes. “No permission should be given for visiting the PVTG areas at night. No photography/ videography of the tribal persons belonging to the PVTG will be allowed. Physical proximity of the tourists to PVTGs should be...

Rail museum in Delhi in a shambles; a long way to restoration

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:38:09 PST

New Delhi : The National Rail Museum in Chanakyapuri was supposed to conserve our rail heritage, but it has gradually turned into a junkyard. The 130-year-old rail saloons — once used by the Indian and British royalty — are in complete shambles, reflecting very little of their glorious past. With leaking roofs, the saloons, which used to be one of the most lavish in the world, have become home to cats. Read more Source : hindustantimes.com

Dog days in Hyderabad

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:33:32 PST

Indian dogs suffer appalling cruelty on the streets while expensive foreign breeds in urban homes live in air-conditioned rooms. Those who adopt the ‘phoren’ breed then complain of stray dog problems. Why this double standard? When man came out of the forest, dog followed him. While all other creatures were sceptical of the crafty biped, the dog’s trust in him was total and unconditional. The association continues into the 21st century. Read more Source : postnoon.com

Activists hail law on wife's choice of name

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:27:26 PST

MUMBAI: Flavia Agnes of the women's rights activist group Majlis, sees the amendment that says women are not obliged to change their maiden name after marriage, as a "progressive new addition to the law for women". Majlis' efforts ensured that a woman can continue to use her maiden name and surname if she so desires after marriage. She is not bound to use her husband's name and can initiate proceedings in any court using her maiden name. The 'after divorce' status does not force a woman to revert to her maiden name if she had been using her husband's surname....

Urban development dept pushes for elevated Metro

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:22:26 PST

Pune : ‘Underground Metro not viable option, citizens will have to pay more’ Even as the debate is on over whether the city should have an underground or an elevated Metro, the Urban Development Department (UDD) has forwarded the proposal of an ‘elevated Metro’ to the state Cabinet. The UDD seems to have pitched its lot behind the elevated Metro, an idea which was opposed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The UDD has also sent a ‘Cabinet note’ to Pawar. Read more Source : indianexpress.com

Nasscom suggests 'virtual SEZ' option

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:17:48 PST

KOLKATA: In the wake of the controversy over the proposed SEZs, IT body Nasscom has a suggestion. It wants the Bengal government to consider giving a "virtual SEZ" status where it can tweak some of the rules of SEZ, like land requirement, without doing away with the other conditions. "The West Bengal government may decide to suggest the modification of the current SEZ policy to include the concept of virtual SEZ wherein there are no restrictions on size, but they reflect other conditions of the SEZ policy," Suparno Moitra, regional manager (east), Nasscom, told TOI. Read more Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

More CWG works under CBI lens

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:12:03 PST

NEW DELHI: Widening the ambit of its probe into the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two Preliminary Enquiries (PEs) related to alleged irregularities into two projects taken up by New Delhi Municipal Council - renovation of Connaught Place and upgradation of street lighting at NDMC areas. The projects had earlier been slammed by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report. The PEs have been registered against unnamed NDMC officials, said CBI sources. The delay in the renovation of Connaught Place led to a nine-fold increase in the scope and cost of the project,...

Aadhaar registration again in Andhra Pradesh from April 1

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:05:50 PST

HYDERABAD: Registration for Aadhaar cards issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which was temporarily halted in the state from February 15 on technical grounds, will be resumed from April 1. This information was given by minister for food, civil supplies, legal metrology and consumer affairs D Sridhar Babu during the question hour in the state Assembly on Friday. Read more Source : ibnlive.in.com

Fund crunch hits BRTS

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:52:24 PST

Visakhapatnam : Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city, which had to be completed by December 2010, has been delayed due to lack of coordination between the state and the Central governments in sanctioning funds. Even though the long-drawn-out tussle between the GVMC and the East Coast Railway (ECoR) seems to be settled down, the fund crunch has turned out to be a major hurdle for timely completion of the project. Read more Source : deccanchronicle.com

Allotment of houses for slum dwellers to start in April in Delhi

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:53:44 PST

NEW DELHI : In order to achieve its goal of making Delhi a slum-free city, the Delhi Government will start allotment of houses under the Economically Weaker Section category from April this year, Industries Minister Ramakant Goswami said during a visit to a construction site at Pootkhurd in North-West Delhi on Friday. With the projection of population for 2021 being 230 lakh and an additional 24 lakh housing units needed to meet the demand, the officials said 9.6 lakh units would be created through provision of additional floors and floor area ratio (FAR) while 1.31 lakh new housing stock would...

Low level of rural sanitation in Rajasthan

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:40:11 PST

JAIPUR: Rural sanitation and hygiene in line with Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) and government of India (GoI) guidelines is abysmally low in Rajasthan. On an average, only 12.9% people in the state use toilets despite a reported expenditure of Rs 273.1 crore in the previous financial year (2010-11) for building toilets. According to Nirmal Rajasthan Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy (2012-2022), though access to toilets for schools and angawadis has seen a marked increase, rural solid and liquid waste management has got little or no attention. And despite 30 million children in rural India suffering from sanitation-related diseases, open defecation...

WHO removes India from list of countries plagued by polio

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:19:45 PST

NEW DELHI - India marked a major success in its battle against polio Saturday by being removed from the World Health Organization's list of countries plagued by the crippling disease. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the WHO removed India from the list after the country passed one year without registering any new cases. Read more Source : 660news.com

PM for Hassle-Free OPDs in Public Hospitals

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:15:15 PST

Noting that insurance schemes tended to focus on inpatient care, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India needs to work towards hassle-free and cashless outpatient care in its public hospitals. He also said that education and health will be the key priorities of the 12th Five Year Plan and stressed that more efforts were required to reach the goals of increasing public expenditure on health to 2.5 per cent of GDP. Read more Source : news.outlookindia.com

Nature calls, but nowhere to go in Bangalore

ThinkIndia — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:10:09 PST

Only 504 public toilets for a City spread over 800 sq km is a dismal figure. Even these have become stinking enclosures. Bursting bladders have no other option but to relieve themselves on the roadside. Bangalore’s ego might get a booster shot with sobriquets like the Science City, the Silicon Valley of India, the Knowledge City, or even the cliched, but an increasingly odd tag, the Garden City. Yet, these exalting taglines hide a stinking underbelly: A glaring lack of the most basic of amenities — public toilets. Read more Source : deccanherald.com