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						<title>www.im4change.org</title>
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						<description>A web resource on India rural crises - Ideas, Concerns, Facts and Backgrounders</description>
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				<title>Please Sir, may I take a newspaper into my class?-Nivedita Menon</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/please-sir-may-i-take-a-newspaper-into-my-class-nivedita-menon-15215.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[At last, the real anxieties lurking behind what has come to be called the &ldquo;Ambedkar cartoon&rdquo; controversy are out in the open. It is hideously clear by now that MPs &ldquo;uniting across parties&rdquo; are acting as one only to protect themselves from public scrutiny, debate and criticism. It turns out, as some of us suspected all along, that the &ldquo;sentiments&rdquo; that have been &ldquo;hurt&rdquo; this time are the easily bruised egos of our elected representatives.(By the way, you may have...]]></description>
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				<title>The Great Indian Media Hoax Of Self-Regulation: Ruchi Gupta</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/the-great-indian-media-hoax-of-self-regulation-ruchi-gupta-15214.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-Kafila.orgWith a comfortable gap of time after the revelations of paid news, private treaties and the Radia tapes, the media is once again on the offensive to guard its independence. The trigger this time is a private member&rsquo;s bill, the Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012. The proposed legislation has been widely and energetically panned by the industry, with the Congress subsequently distancing itself from the Bill. The Bill is not available in the public domain; however...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15214</guid>
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				<title>Right to principals-Nitin Desai</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/right-to-principals-nitin-desai-15213.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Empower school principals to truly deliver education to India The Right to Education (RTE) law, and the subsequent Supreme Court judgment, has focused attention on the future of school education in India. The judgment on the provision that requires private schools to offer 25 per cent of their seats to economically weaker sections opens new opportunities for the poor, and that is welcome. But in our fiercely hierarchical society, class-conscious private schools may be pressured by intolerant parents to segregate...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15213</guid>
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				<title>Hypertension and diabetes on the rise worldwide, says UN report</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/hypertension-and-diabetes-on-the-rise-worldwide-says-un-report-15212.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The United NationsThe number of people with high blood pressure and diabetes is drastically increasing in both developed and developing countries, according to a United Nations report released today.&ldquo;This report is further evidence of the dramatic increase in the conditions that trigger heart disease and other chronic illnesses, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,&rdquo; said the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan. &ldquo;In some African countries, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure.&rdquo;WHO&rsquo;s...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15212</guid>
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				<title>The spreading superbug</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/the-spreading-superbug-15211.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Business StandardStill waiting for a crackdown on antibiotic over-prescription According to a recent study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the drug-resistant bacterial strain known as New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1, or NDM-1, has spread to 40 countries. This is quite remarkable, given that it was only discovered in 2008 in the UK, among patients who had recently been hospitalised in India. The &ldquo;superbug&rdquo;, as it is commonly known, is feared for its ability to cause many types of bacteria...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15211</guid>
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				<title>Drought-hit villagers pour into Mumbai; shun low NREGS wages-Madhavi Rajadhyaksha</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/drought-hit-villagers-pour-into-mumbai-shun-low-nregs-wages-madhavi-rajadhyaksha-15210.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[SANGLI/ SATARA: Open trailers packed with families and cattle have become a common sight along Maharashtra's highways - a telling sign of the distress the drought in 15 districts of the state has brought with it. Truckloads of villagers are migrating from the hinterland to cities like Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur in desperate search for livelihood.While many officials deny the drought-driven migration, the absence of male heads in rural homes in water-starved parts of the state reveals another reality. A...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15210</guid>
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				<title>Road ministry panel wants CBI probe into Lucknow-Muzaffarpur highway project-Nidhi Sharma</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/road-ministry-panel-wants-cbi-probe-into-lucknow-muzaffarpur-highway-project-nidhi-sharma-15209.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[A probe panel of the road ministry has recommended a CBI investigation into allegations of fraud against private contractors involved in the Lucknow-Muzaffarpur highway project.The inquiry committee, instituted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, supported findings of the World Bank Institutional Integrity Unit report, which alleged fraudulent practices and graft by private contractors involved in the Lucknow-Muzaffarpur highway project.The committee, formed in April by minister CP Joshi, recommended that the World Bank Institutional Integrity Unit report should also...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15209</guid>
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				<title>Cartoon issue cannot be left to executive discretion-B Muralidhar Reddy</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/cartoon-issue-cannot-be-left-to-executive-discretion-b-muralidhar-reddy-15208.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Eminent persons express concern at Kapil Sibal standEminent persons, including Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik and Zoya Hasan, have expressed serious concern at the announcement by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal that cartoons in textbooks considered &lsquo;offensive' by MPs would be removed. They said the matter shouldn't be considered as one of mere executive discretion.In a signed statement on behalf of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SHMT), they warned that such issues were bound to come up from time...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15208</guid>
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				<title>Textbook contents must not be decided by executive</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/textbook-contents-must-not-be-decided-by-executive-15206.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Financial ExpressA group of well-known scholars has called on the government not to tamper with the contents of academic syllabi on &ldquo;executive discretion&rdquo; as was being done in the matter relating to a review of political cartoons in textbooks.A statement by Romila Thapar, Prabhat Patnaik, Zoya Hasan, Ram Rahman, Jayati Ghosh and Mushirul Hasan, among others, said they were concerned about HRD Minister Kapil Sibal&rsquo;s statement that an &lsquo;offensive&rsquo; cartoon in a Class XI textbook would be removed. &ldquo;Whatever...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15206</guid>
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				<title>AP seeks royalty for Brahma bull</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/ap-seeks-royalty-for-brahma-bull-15205.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The Andhra Pradesh biodiversity board wants to claim royalty for the Brahma or Brahman bull, a species taken from Ongole and bred widely in Brazil, the United States and Australia for over 100 years.The bull, scientifically known as Bos indicus, is in great demand as it is known to be resistant to foot and mouth disease and for its flavourful meat. Biodiversity board chairman R. Hampaiah, back recently from a biodiversity conference in Brazil, said steps are being taken to...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15205</guid>
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				<title>Parliament&#039;s stand on Ambedkar cartoon disturbing: Panikkar-G Krishnakumar</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/parliament039s-stand-on-ambedkar-cartoon-disturbing-panikkar-g-krishnakumar-15204.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Parliament hurriedly intervened in the issue that called for more serious thoughtRenowned historian K.N. Panikkar on Wednesday said that the stand taken by Parliament in the controversy over a cartoon on B.R. Ambedkar was disturbing as it rather hurriedly intervened in an issue that called for more serious thought.&ldquo;The members of Parliament have reacted with rare unanimity and an unwarranted sense of outrage to the cartoon included in a textbook published by the NCERT. If they had not done so...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15204</guid>
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				<title>DNA profiling: Very soon, govt will know you inside out-Neeraj Thakur &amp; Saikat Datta</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/dna-profiling-very-soon-govt-will-know-you-inside-out-neeraj-thakur-saikat-datta-15202.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[In a controversial move that threatens to increase the intrusion by the state into the lives of ordinary citizens, the UPA government is set to introduce a DNA Profiling Bill in the winter session of Parliament. Once it becomes a law, the bill will grant the authority to collect vast amount of sensitive DNA data of citizens even if they are &quot;suspects&quot; in a criminal case. The data will be held till the person is cleared by court.The bill has...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15202</guid>
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				<title>Comic stripped-Pratap Bhanu Mehta</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/comic-stripped-pratap-bhanu-mehta-15201.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Parliament is now a body of fragile selves. They won&rsquo;t draw a sword for libertyIs the controversy over the Ambedkar cartoon in the NCERT textbook a sign of a deeper intellectual and cultural malaise? The plot line is eerily familiar. One set of politicians raises, in this case falsely, the apprehension that a cartoon is offensive. There is a high-pitched debate. Members of an offended community accuse others of insensitivity and impunity. Others respond by variously denying that the image...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15201</guid>
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				<title>Politicians should introspect instead of criticising cartoons: Kashmiri MP-Rakhi Chakrabarty</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/politicians-should-introspect-instead-of-criticising-cartoons-kashmiri-mp-rakhi-chakrabarty-15200.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Economic TimesEven as noisy MPs continued to demand a ban on cartoons of politicians in NCERT textbooks in Lok Sabha, a lone voice struck a different chord. National Conference MP from Baramulla Sharifullah Shariq said politicians should introspect instead of criticising the cartoons.&quot;Except in rare cases where a cartoon denigrates leader like Nehru or Ambedkar, why banish political cartoons altogether ?&quot; Shariq said.The NC leader said Kashmiri leaders, including Sheikh Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, have always taken cartoons about...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15200</guid>
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				<title>Govt mustnt buy land for private parties: House</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/govt-mustnt-buy-land-for-private-parties-house-15199.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Times of IndiaA parliamentary panel has recommended that government keep away from land purchase for private parties, contrary to the provision made in the pending land acquisition bill, striking at the heart of the Centre's plan to facilitate acquisition for industry and townships with better compensation.The standing committee's blanket bar on acquisition for private bodies, including Public Private Partnership for projects defined as public purpose, strikes down the clause which explicitly allowed the state to step in to help...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15199</guid>
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				<title>In another era, a wit that pulled no punches-Mushirul Hasan</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/in-another-era-a-wit-that-pulled-no-punches-mushirul-hasan-15198.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The colonial government took a liberal view of the merciless lampooning that it received at the hands of cartoonists in the Indian pressA cartoon is a written expression of the comic impulse, and the cartoonist is an artisan of nib and brush who puts down complex processes of reason and argument in drawings and pictures. His impact is that readers sit up, smile, frown, or simply laugh. In short, cartoons appeal to popular taste and popular intelligence. &lsquo;Against the assault...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15198</guid>
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				<title>India&#039;s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control-Parminder Jeet Singh</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/india039s-proposal-will-help-take-the-web-out-of-u-s-control-parminder-jeet-singh-15197.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The HinduUnnerved by the Indian stand, IT monopolies are propagating the myth that a multilateral governance structure will kill the decentralised, multi-stakeholder nature of the Internet and lead to &lsquo;government control'Last year, in a statement to the U.N. General Assembly, India sought the creation of a U.N. Committee on Internet-Related Policies (CIRP) in order to democratise global Internet governance, which at present is either U.S.-controlled, or subject to the policies of rich country clubs like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15197</guid>
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				<title>House panel echoes Mamata on land</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/house-panel-echoes-mamata-on-land-15196.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The TelegraphMamata Banerjee&rsquo;s suggestion that the government should keep away from land acquisition for private industry has got the backing of a parliamentary standing committee, which has suggested that private enterprises buy plots on their own.The National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, which was introduced in Parliament last year by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, had laid down that the government could acquire land only for a &ldquo;public purpose&rdquo;.In the original bill, the scope of public purpose was...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15196</guid>
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				<title>Dont want Armed Forces Special Powers Act shield: CRPF brass-Rakhi Chakrabarty</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/dont-want-armed-forces-special-powers-act-shield-crpf-brass-rakhi-chakrabarty-15195.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[CRPF top brass on Wednesday distanced itself from a senior officer's demand that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) cover be extended to the paramilitary force to tackle the Maoist scourge.D K Pandey, a CRPF inspector-general (IG) posted in Ranchi and in-charge of anti-Maoist operations for the central force in Jharkhand, had made the pitch, which is seen to be his personal view.Speaking to TOI, CRPF director-general K Vijay Kumar rubbished the demand for AFSPA for anti-Maoist operations. &quot;We...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15195</guid>
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				<title>NRHM scam: Note implicates Mayawati</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/nrhm-scam-note-implicates-mayawati-15194.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Times of IndiaFingers are now being pointed at former chief minister Mayawati and her favourite babu Shashank Shekhar Singh for the role they might have played in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. And the basis for this is a government order issued by Mayawati herself on May 31, 2007, 18 days after becoming chief minister.Although the BSP on Wednesday denied any role of its supremo in the NRHM scam, the government order, which is in possession of...]]></description>
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				<title>Unsold jute bags stack up, but govt OKs import-Deeptimaan Tiwary</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/unsold-jute-bags-stack-up-but-govt-oks-import-deeptimaan-tiwary-15193.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Even as the government races against time to procure enough jute bags to store grains in the face of record procurement , gunnysack traders are saddled with massive unsold stocks. A look at the godowns of some traders in the national capital alone shows there is no shortage of jute bags in the country.While the central government has placed an order for four lakh jute bags to be imported from Bangladesh and asked jute mills in West Bengal to increase...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15193</guid>
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				<title>Tough norms for land acquisition?</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/tough-norms-for-land-acquisition-15192.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Hindustan TimesThe parliamentary standing committee on rural development is slated to submit on Thursday its report on the much-awaited land acquisition bill &mdash; with suggestions for tough norms that would make it very difficult to acquire land for industry. The committee, it is understood, has suggested that &lsquo;public purpose&rsquo; be clearly defined to prevent profit-making industries from taking advantage of the law under the guise of producing public goods at large. It has also said that projects under the...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15192</guid>
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				<title>Government working on private sector corruption law-Aloke Tikku</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/government-working-on-private-sector-corruption-law-aloke-tikku-15191.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[In an attempt to bring the fight against bribery to the private sector, the home ministry is working on tough amendments to the anti-corruption law. The amendments, if passed, will be so tough that tipping the parking attendant in your office for a better slot could leave you facing jail time. It will make receiving a gift a crime, if it a court says it was in return for undue favours.Offenders will be punished with a maximum 7 years in...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15191</guid>
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				<title>Petrol may rise Rs 5/litre, diesel Rs 3</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/petrol-may-rise-rs-5litre-diesel-rs-3-15190.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Times of IndiaGet ready to pay more for fuels shortly. The hike is likely to kick in soon after Parliament's budget session ends on May 22. In a clear indication of the inevitable, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday warned of &quot;disastrous consequences&quot; if &quot;corrective steps&quot; were not taken to deal with the problem of high oil prices and seemingly endless subsidy.&nbsp;&quot;Petroleum prices are increasing by leaps and bounds. We cannot keep them under any carpet. If we do...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15190</guid>
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				<title>Swedish writer found backing Reds: Government</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/swedish-writer-found-backing-reds-government-15189.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Times of IndiaGovernment on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that the home ministry had noted an instance where a foreigner was found to be extending his support to the CPI (Maoist) and its front organizations. It, however, added that there is &quot;no direct evidence&quot; to suggest that foreigners are engaged in an organized way to help the Maoists.&nbsp;Referring to the instance, MoS for home affairs Jitendra Singh told the Upper House that a pro-Maoist Swedish author, Jan Myrdal, had...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15189</guid>
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				<title>Autonomous NCERT should retain toons</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/autonomous-ncert-should-retain-toons-15188.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Times of IndiaThe government has maintained that NCERT is an autonomous body. Well, if the insistence is correct, the cartoons which triggered a political storm should stay in the textbooks.&nbsp;A month before the row over the cartoons erupted, leading to the decision to banish them, NCERT had defended their use in textbooks, even telling the National Commission for SCs that there was nothing offensive about the B R Ambedkar cartoon as was being made out.&nbsp;After the dalit panel expressed...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15188</guid>
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				<title>Just getting by</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/just-getting-by-15187.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The EconomistUNDER a thatched roof, lit by a full, yellow moon, Shiv Kumari explains how she and her five children survive. She is a widow, 30 years old, living in a home made of packed mud. She works the nearby fields, draws a small pension, some food rations and gets a few days of paid labour each month from a rural make-work scheme.Semra village, made up of 70 households, most of them dalit, or lowest-caste, is not India&rsquo;s poorest. It...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15187</guid>
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				<title>India&#039;s proposal for government control of Internet to be discussed in Geneva-Shalini Singh</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/india039s-proposal-for-government-control-of-internet-to-be-discussed-in-geneva-shalini-singh-15186.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Move to form body with 50 governments to oversee Internet governanceThe raging controversy over excessive state regulation of the Internet based on the IT Rules 2011 is now likely to be dwarfed by discussions in Geneva later this week on India's proposal to the United Nations General Assembly for government control of the Internet.Led by the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the Geneva meet is a multi-stakeholder discussion platform on Internet governance structures.In its proposal submitted to the...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15186</guid>
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				<title>Special powers to be used to cancel Bauxite lease in Andhra Pradesh-Nidhi Sharma</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/special-powers-to-be-used-to-cancel-bauxite-lease-in-andhra-pradesh-nidhi-sharma-15185.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[For the first time, the Centre has urged the governor to use his special powers in Scheduled Areas to cancel bauxite mining leases given in Andhra Pradesh's Vishakhapatnam district.Linking the issue of bauxite mining to the growing Maoist violence on the Andhra-Odisha border, the Centre has asked Andhra Pradesh governor ESL Narsimhan to use special powers, bestowed to governors in Scheduled Areas under the Constitution, to cancel the leases.The Centre is studying mining leases in Odisha to recommend a similar...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15185</guid>
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				<title>Land and caste-Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/land-and-caste-ajoy-ashirwad-mahaprashasta-15184.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Jatav residents of Ramgarh in U.P. resist attempts by members of a powerful community to grab their land by violent means. IN what could be considered one of the worst incidents of vendetta against Dalits in the National Capital Region (NCR), members of the Dalit Jatav community were beaten up brutally by some members of the dominant Gujjar community in Ramgarh village in the Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh on March 14. The assailants, backed by the gram pradhan...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15184</guid>
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				<title>Blind to realities-TK Rajalakshmi</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/blind-to-realities-tk-rajalakshmi-15183.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The proposed criminalisation of consensual sex between youngsters in the 16-18 age group is seen as regressive and in denial of social realities. THE minimum age for consensual sex has been raised from 16 to 18 in the amended Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011, recently approved by the Union Cabinet. If approved by Parliament, this will make sexual activity with a person below 18 a criminal offence, even if it is consensual. This is among the changes...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15183</guid>
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				<title>For a fair deal -Kirti Singh</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/for-a-fair-deal-kirti-singh-15182.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The amendment to the Marriage Laws Bill needs to be redrafted to ensure, among other things, greater economic rights for divorced women. SINCE the 1950s, successive amendments to different personal laws on marriage and divorce have mainly focussed on enlarging the grounds for divorce. In the 1960s and 1970s, cruelty and desertion and thereafter mutual consent were added as grounds for divorce in the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and the Special Marriage Act (SMA). However, the fact that almost all...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15182</guid>
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				<title>And pension for all-Jayati Ghosh</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/and-pension-for-all-jayati-ghosh-15181.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[A universal pension scheme for social protection must be part of a broader strategy of economic expansion different from the present neoliberal order. INDIA must be one of the worst countries in the world in terms of not providing even minimal social security for most of its people. This is not just a major failure of the development project in the country &ndash; it is also a significant cause of it, even though this is rarely recognised. There is good...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15181</guid>
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				<title>Target of intolerance -Venkitesh Ramakrishnan</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/target-of-intolerance-venkitesh-ramakrishnan-15180.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Religious and social groups have trampled on the freedom of expression of artists and scholars to serve their own agendas. &ldquo;FOR all the big talk about India's great tradition of cultural and religious tolerance, many forces in the social life of our country and a number of established organisations, including the so-called non-political ones, have time and again resorted to blatant suppression of freedom of expression, pointing forcefully to the dominant stream of intolerance in our society. And if one...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15180</guid>
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				<title>Just let the press be -Sashi Kumar</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/just-let-the-press-be-sashi-kumar-15179.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Justice Markandey Katju's prescription for a regulated media regime is a misplaced step that can actually de-democratise the fourth estate. IT is open season on the political class and the news media. But then, again, it's more like a chase of one's own tail. A self-righteous, delusional, Anna-Baba NGO-ised fringe sets out to stigmatise politics and Members of Parliament; the news media salivate at the prospect and rush to provide the arena and become the cheerleaders of the slanging match;...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15179</guid>
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				<title>A Bill and its meaning-Venkitesh Ramakrishnan</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/a-bill-and-its-meaning-venkitesh-ramakrishnan-15178.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[By all outward appearances, the controversial Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012, has been shelved. The Congress leadership has already distanced itself from the contents of the Bill, stating that it was solely advanced by Meenakshi Natarajan, the party's Lok Sabha member from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh. The first-time MP, who is a close aide of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, refused to comment on the Bill she had drafted, maintaining that unless the Bill was introduced...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15178</guid>
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				<title>Censoring the Net -TK Rajalakshmi</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/censoring-the-net-tk-rajalakshmi-15177.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The IT (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, drafted to protect intermediaries, now appear to be a tool that can be used to harass them. EIGHT years ago, the chief executive officer of an auction portal was put behind bars because a user put an obscene MMS clip up for sale on the site. This sparked a demand from intermediaries, the entities that provide services enabling the delivery of online content to end-users, that the government amend the Information Technology Act, 2000, in...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15177</guid>
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				<title>Fetters on the media? -V Venkatesan</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/fetters-on-the-media-v-venkatesan-15175.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The proposal made by a Supreme Court Bench to have guidelines for legal reporting is seen as a serious threat to the freedom of the media. Paradoxes are not new to India. But the current challenges to the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media are sure to confound a future historian looking for explanations.The country is fortunate to have the best of historical circumstances that are conducive to uninhibited public debate and dissemination of news and views,...]]></description>
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				<title>Parliamentary panel proposes tougher norms for acquiring land for industrial use</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/parliamentary-panel-proposes-tougher-norms-for-acquiring-land-for-industrial-use-15174.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Economic TimesA parliamentary panel on Tuesday proposed tougher norms for acquiring land for industrial use, as it finalised the new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill.The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, in a report due to be tabled in the House on Thursday, proposed a more stringent definition of 'public purpose' to ensure that the government does not acquire land for private businesses. According to the report, the government should not acquire any land for infrastructure and projects...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15174</guid>
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				<title>Antidote to World Bank prescription-K Subramanian</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/antidote-to-world-bank-prescription-k-subramanian-15173.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[A scholarly study of corruption in the larger context of societal growth and developmentCorruption is no longer a word and has become a noise. Debates on corruption have reached high decibel levels and the world is no closer to solutions. Given the complexity, there are as many views as there are participants. Some speak from high moral pedestals like those from the rich, donor countries. It is no surprise that the lead was given by the World Bank with its...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15173</guid>
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				<title>Save the classroom from the political class-Suhas Palshikar</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/save-the-classroom-from-the-political-class-suhas-palshikar-15172.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[We created a textbook that would encourage young citizens to think seriously about politics. But our politicians are not ready for that yetWhen an emotional issue erupts in the public domain, argument becomes difficult and secondary to decision-making. That is what happened over the controversy regarding the inclusion of a cartoon depicting Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in a class XI textbook. One self-proclaimed inheritor and interpreter of Dr. Ambedkar's legacy ensured the debate could not even enter the realm of reason...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15172</guid>
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				<title>CBI raids Yedyyurappa, kins residences</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/cbi-raids-yedyyurappa-kins-residences-15171.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-PTISwinging into action a day after filing an FIR against former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in connection with illegal mining, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Wednesday conducted simultaneous raids at the senior BJP leader&rsquo;s residences here and in some other places in the state.A joint team of CBI officials from Hyderabad and Bangalore also raided residences of Mr. Yeddyurappa&rsquo;s sons B Y Raghavendra, MP, and B Y Vijayendra as also his son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15171</guid>
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				<title>Amended lokpal bill to be reintroduced in Rajya Sabha next week-Bharti Jain</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/amended-lokpal-bill-to-be-reintroduced-in-rajya-sabha-next-week-bharti-jain-15170.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Economic TimesThe government is set to reintroduce the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha next Monday with two official amendments. The amendments include dropping the Lokayuktas chapter from the bill, resulting in change of its nomenclature to just 'Lokpal Bill', and simplifying the process for removal of chairperson and members of the Lokpal.The twin amendments to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha last December, were finalised at a meeting between finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15170</guid>
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				<title>HRD panel cleared all textbooks, say experts</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/hrd-panel-cleared-all-textbooks-say-experts-15169.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Economic TimesThe prospect of political cartoons going out of textbooks is a dangerous one. Lessons will become drab again. Worried scholars say the move could signal a devastating reversal in what was nothing short of a revolution in textbook-writing in India. Besides, an HRD ministry panel had vetted and cleared the text books, they say.A beleaguered NCERT, which designed and published the books, has set up a committee to review social science textbooks for classes IX-XII to identify what...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15169</guid>
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				<title>Incandescent rage over a 63-year-old cartoon exposes the fragility of our 60-year-old Parliament-Kuldeep Kumar</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/incandescent-rage-over-a-63-year-old-cartoon-exposes-the-fragility-of-our-60-year-old-parliament-kuldeep-kumar-15168.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[The controversy over a cartoon in an NCERT textbook sends a chill down the spine as it shows the extent to which the culture of intolerance has eaten into the vitals of our democratic polity.The cartoon in question shows B R Ambedkar sitting on a snail (Constitution) and flogging it while Jawaharlal Nehru too is brandishing a whip standing behind Ambedkar. It is clear that he is also aiming his whip at the snail.The cartoon was drawn by the legendary...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15168</guid>
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				<title>Capital shuts door on Burmese refugees-Anahita Mukherji</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/capital-shuts-door-on-burmese-refugees-anahita-mukherji-15167.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Over 2000 impoverished Burmese asylum-seekers from across India, camping on the streets of Delhi pleading for refugee status were dealt a double whammy. On Tuesday afternoon, even as a delegation of Burmese met UN officials to sort out their problems, they were forced out of their temporary shelter in Vasant Kunj by police, dumped into buses and rickshaws and told to find their way home. To make matters worse, their leader, Zia-ur Rahman was whisked away from the United Nations...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15167</guid>
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				<title>No shelter, Myanmar refugees asked to move out yet again-Shaswati Das</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/no-shelter-myanmar-refugees-asked-to-move-out-yet-again-shaswati-das-15166.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Twenty-seven-year-old Amina (name changed) is in the eighth month of her pregnancy. But this immigrant from the Rohingya community from Myanmar is more worried about getting a shelter over her head than the bundle of joy she would be holding in her arms very soon.She is among the 2,500-odd Rohingya refugees who were camping at Vasant Vihar before they moved to Sultan Garhi on May 8. They not only lack access to medical facilities but other basic civic amenities such...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15166</guid>
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				<title>Critical struggle-Ananya Vajpeyi</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/critical-struggle-ananya-vajpeyi-15165.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[Recently, the Indian Council of Social Science Research, the highest body that funds and guides the social sciences in India, has initiated an in-house debate about the current state and the future prospects of such research. What is the quality of work that has come out of our universities and research institutes over the past 10-20 years? Which new areas of inquiry deserve more time, money and attention in the coming years? Are Indian social scientists based in this country...]]></description>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.im4change.org/articles.php?articleId=15165</guid>
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				<title>Meet PMs change agents-Amit Gupta</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/meet-pms-change-agents-amit-gupta-15164.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;Twenty-two newbie managers, fresh from B-schools across India, are raring to go. Only, they won&rsquo;t make spreadsheets to sell soaps or fizzy drinks. From June, they will assist senior bureaucrats across 11 districts of Jharkhand where the Centre is funding uplift schemes.These managers &mdash; from IIT-Kharagpur, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)-Mumbai, Visva-Bharti in Bengal&rsquo;s Santiniketan, XISS-Ranchi, XLRI-Jamshedpur and others &mdash; are Prime Minister&rsquo;s Rural Development Fellows in some of Jharkhand&rsquo;s worst rebel pockets.Now getting trained at State Institute of...]]></description>
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				<title>Ban indecent portrayal of women in ads: MPs</title>
				<link>http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/ban-indecent-portrayal-of-women-in-ads-mps-15163.html</link>
				<description><![CDATA[-The Times of IndiaA day after Parliament worked up a lather over political cartoons in NCERT textbooks, MPs on Tuesday demanded a ban on indecent representation of women in advertisements. Demands ranged from calling an all-party meeting to setting up of a censor board for ads.&nbsp;Responding to queries, I&amp;B minister Ambika Soni said that the government was giving self-regulation a chance, but it was empowered and would take action if it deemed necessary.&nbsp;Soni also pointed at the hypocrisy of members,...]]></description>
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