Obama sounds alarm bell on jobs
Washington Sounding an alarm bell over the challenge from "hungry" Indian and Chinese students, US President Barack Obama has asked Americans to focus more on science, mathematics and technology to ensure that "jobs of future" stay within the shores.

Acknowledging that American firms are having a tough time finding the right candidates for jobs in science and technology, Obama, travelling to Durham in North Carolina, said it is not a good sign for the future ... Read More

Long road ahead for Asian women workers' struggle for equality
Babs Verblackt

While much achievement has been made in the past decades, women workers across Asia still struggle for more rights and equality. They need to find more ways to make their voices heard, such as engaging in politics, speakers at a seminar in Bangkok said in the run up to International Women's Day (March 8). "Women found their voices. Power must come from within," Jurgette Honculada of the Committee for Asian Women (CAW) said ... Read More

Census in India a window into a changing nation
STEPHANIE NOLEN

NEW DELHI

Hunched over a clipboard, squinting in the pale yellow glow of a street camp, Shika Shrivasta surveyed the grimy, wiggly boy in front of her.

“Address?” she asked, and he gestured vaguely at the park around them. She frowned at her papers: runaway nine-year-olds, jittery from solvent sniffing, do not have a category in India’s census.

In the developed world ... you can post out the census form and people fill ... Read More

India on the front lines in the battle to eradicate polio
STEPHANIE NOLEN

DELHI: Through the heaving crowd of a Delhi railway platform, Vandana Saini spots a sleeping toddler slumped on her mother’s shoulder. She darts forward brandishing a tiny squeeze bottle. “Polio?” she hollers over the screech of train brakes, inspecting the baby’s fingernail for the tell-tale ink mark that shows the recently vaccinated. The mother shrinks back for a moment, then recognizes Ms. Saini’s yellow vest, the sign of India’s 2.3-million volunteer vaccinators. She ... Read More

Railway budget 2011-12: Highlights
New Delhi: The following are highlights of the railway budget for 2011-12 presented in the Lok Sabha Friday by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee:

* No increase in fares.

* Earnings for 2010-11 set to exceed Rs.1 lakh crores.

* Working expenditure during 2011-12 estimated at Rs.87,000 crore.

* Outlay of Rs.57,630 crore for 2011-12, the highest investment in one year.

* Rs.10,000 crore to be raised through railway bonds.

* Budget combines ... Read More

UNTIL WOMEN FEEL SECURE, GROWTH RATE CANNOT GO UP, SAYS BRINDA
LUCKNOW: Justice eludes the victims of sexual assault and girl-child abuse due to lack of political will to bring about legislation to check such cases and the United Progressive Alliance government is not according priority to this issue.

This was stated by Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat at a seminar on “violence against women and the role of administration and media” here on Friday.

Ms. Karat was critical of the country's growth ... Read More

India crowned winner of the YOG World Mile Video Contest
The Culture & Education Programme of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games saw local school classes from across Tyrol given the challenge of presenting the countries participating in the Games in a creative and interactive way. A total of 56 nations were showcased using stands measuring just 12m² as part of the YOG World Mile in Congress Innsbruck, with young camera teams from Innsbruck Media College on hand to record the presentations and activities in ... Read More

Still a long way to go to ensure transparency, probity: PM
New Delhi Amid the continued attack on the government over corruption, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today acknowledged efforts to ensure transparency, accountability and probity in public life would take a long time.
Addressing a Conference of Chief Secretaries here, Singh cited a number of initiatives taken by the government to rid the country of corruption and said these had moved "substantially forward" over the last one year. "But, we still have a long way to ... Read More

From despondency to optimism: 25 years of HIV in India
SHOBHA SHUKLA

(CNS): The YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education, Chennai, recently organized with partners the Chennai ART Symposium (CART 2012), and The International Science Symposium on HIV and Infectious Diseases, to deliberate upon a wide range of aspects related to HIV infection and provide latest clinical updates on the management of the disease, which has been plaguing the Indian populace for over 25 years.

The first case of HIV/AIDS in India was detected ... Read More

Jayalalithaa regrets tie-up with DMDK
PTI

Opposition DMDK members, including their leader Vijayakant, were on Wednesday evicted from Tamil Nadu Assembly after a fiery verbal exchange between him and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who dubbed his conduct as “obnoxious” and regretted the tie-up with his party in the assembly polls.

A war of words erupted between AIADMK and DMDK over hike in bus fares and milk prices last year, which soon turned into a one-on-one clash between Ms. Jayalalithaa and Mr. Vijayakanth ... Read More

Congress promises jobs, free electricity in UP
Lucknow, Jan 31 (IANS) Massive employment opportunities for the youth, quotas for minorities and free electricity connections to the poor were among the promises the Congress made Tuesday in its election manifesto for Uttar Pradesh released in Lucknow and nine other centres.

One lakh vacant government posts would be filled immediately and 20 lakh youth would be provided skill development if the Congress comes to power, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said while ... Read More

State elections held in Punjab and Uttarakhand
Voting is being held amid tight security in key Indian state elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand.

More than 20 million are eligible to vote, with some 1,800 candidates contesting 187 assembly seats.

Five states are holding local elections over the next month - a major test for India's governing Congress party.

The first round of polls, in Manipur over the weekend, was marred by violence when suspected rebels attacked a polling station, killing four people.

Among the dead ... Read More

Tasleema Nasreen's book launch at Kolkata Book Fair cancelled
Bangladeshi author Tasleema Nasreen's book launch at the Kolkata Book Fair has been cancelled following objections from some religious extremist groups.

Sources at the book exhibition said religious fanatics had reportedly gone to the Lalbazar police headquarters with a memorandum that demanded that the launch of the book be prevented.

On the other hand, book fair organisers claimed that the hall where the book was supposed to be launched could not be made ready in time ... Read More

Kerala to create 50,000 entrepreneurs2012-01-31 17:00:00 Microsoft® Private CloudAds by GoogleMicrosoft® Private Cloud: Built for the Future. Ready No
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 31 (IANS) The Kerala government will Thursday announce the names of 812 unemployed youths who will receive training under an ambitious Rs.2,500-crore scheme to create 50,000 entrepreneurs in five years, a minister said.

The Kerala State Self Entrepreneur Development Mission was announced by Finance Minister K.M. Mani in his Budget speech last year.

Addressing reporters here Tuesday, Mani said: 'The first batch of 812 people would be introduced on the day. These individuals ... Read More

TN plan to flush out open defecation
The State government has approved a perspective plan for eradicating open defecation in the city over a period of five years at an estimated cost of about Rs.10 crore. Disclosing this at an urgent meeting of the corporation council here on Tuesday, Commissioner K.Veera Raghava Rao said the government has given provisional sanction for Rs.2.66 crore for the current year under the plan. Utilising the funds, existing toilets in the city would be repaired, renovated, ... Read More