Several NGOs working in the disability sector are facing severe financial crunch as most of the funds and donations they would earlier get has been diverted towards tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Prashant Verma, general secretary, National Association for the Blind, says he could just pay 65 per cent salary to his employees in the last two months due to financial crunch and if no fresh donations are made he does not have any money to pay his 120 staff members this month. "We feel as if we are at the end of the line," he told PTI. Verma said his organisation used to get grants from many companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and even from individuals, especially during March as it was the end of the financial year. "But this year we didn't get any money. Some of the companies, which even committed to us, are saying that this time they have to think about their own survival. Many individuals (who earlier donated) don't have money to support us. A lot of the money is ...

The dimensions of the open, continuous and unchecked textbooks publishing rackets have recently come to light following the defeat of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government in the general election held last year. Srinidhi Raghavendra reports.

A Shanghai-based university's ranking of world universities has relegated the highly-rated Indian Institute of Science and the IITs to the bottom of its list, shattering the comfortable assumptions of Indian academics who pride themselves on their achievements. Summiya Yasmeen reports.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s report on Tamil Nadu (General and Social Sector) for the year ending on March 31, 2014 got tabled in the state assembly last month. Himanshu Upadhyaya analyses the report and asks question on the non-responsiveness of the state government to CAG’s performance review.

Tarun Jain and Revathy Suryanarayana explore the link between vernacular language use in schools and educational achievement using data from large-scale historical events in South India.

Why are our publicly held/debated notions of morality limited to a few things such as the world of those castigated as sexual outliers? Partly, the fault lies in our public discourse - a discourse that has turned conversations about morality itself into rare events. The India Together editorial.

Volunteers for development find mutual encouragement, as well as learning, during the three-day event in Pittsburgh.

Aarti Madhusudhan looks at volunteers, in this third part of her series on non-profit governance.

The Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) has developed long-overdue indicators to assess gender sensitivity in governance.

How have SHGs empowered Indian women? What does the Global Gender-Gap Report 2006 say about Indian women? These questions and many more were addressed a recent international conference at Bangalore. Shoma Chatterji has more.

Winning the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha elections in India was easier than chalking down and executing what the new United Progressive Alliance has to do in terms of governance. Ramesh Menon looks at some of the challenges ahead.

Since Kerala and ASEAN countries both produce several similar items, competition from the latter is a cause of worry in the former. But the Centre has over-ridden the State's objections to the free trade agreement, writes Bhaskar Goswami.

Ila D. Hukku portrays the wide range of unmet needs for children in the nation.

Women must be encouraged to speak up, express their own truths and create solidarity networks. Only then will things change, says Deepti Priya Mehrotra.

55 years after Independence, the people, the prime minister, opposition leaders, the Election Commission and the Supreme Court are all crying, day after day, for clean politics. Former High Commissioner to South Africa L C Jain connects the past with the present.

Uma Chakravarty turns the pages of Deepti Priya Mehrotra's stories of single mothers.

There is now a quiet but intense debate within some segments of the corporate sector on the crisis in governance due to communalism, says Rajni Bakshi.

In the very profession where people should innovate, should try out new things, should experiment, the work atmosphere is ossified, hierarchical, resistant to any new thinking or to any change in the rules of engagement. Kalpana Sharma urges a new turn to an old profession.

Calls for the renewal of hundreds of thousands of lapsed insurance policies have begun, reports P Sainath.

The percentage of girl students pursuing science in college is quite impressive. Yet, when it comes to careers in science, the numbers suddenly drop. Kalpana Sharma notes the social and institutional reasons that deny women a level playing field.

Each year, from November 25 to December 10, the United Nations and women's groups around the world draw attention to continuing violence against women in all our societies. In the midst of this, a recent silver lining is an AP bureaucrat acting to clamp down on sex-selective abortion. Kalpana Sharma takes stock.

The quality of teaching and research in Indian universities has rapidly declined. Surely this has something to do with the manner in which we appoint those at their helm, writes Ramachandra Guha.

One woman dies every eight minutes due to complications arising due to pregnancy such as sepsis, haemorrhage or obstructed labour. These deaths could be avoided if there is timely medical intervention, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Pope Francis’s Encyclical talks about poverty, social inequality, climate change, and other global crises mankind has created and proposes newer ways to resolve them. Ashish Kothari finds the Encyclical lacking in certain aspects but hopes that other religious and political leaders will learn to stand up and speak up like the Pope.

Bauddhayan Mukherji's film series hands men a proactive role in tackling domestic violence, simply by letting abusers know that they are being observed. Shoma Chatterji reviews Bell Bajao!

Vijay Tendulkar's Kanyadaan is not about domestic violence. It is about deeper, multiple, and sometimes invisible layers of violence that is an integral part of society. Shoma Chatterji reviews the play.

Sanjay Kak's latest film Red Ant Dream weaves together disparate stories of people's movements and transports the viewer to hidden pockets of resistance to paint a picture of conflict and revolutionary potential in India today. Freny Manecksha reviews the film.

The recently held Kolkata People’s Film Festival – an offshoot of the founding movement called The Cinema of Resistance – screened powerful documentaries and feature films portraying the struggle and resistance of the marginalised and downtrodden. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Debaranjan Sarangi, a documentary film maker, writer and human rights activist was arrested recently in Kashipur, Odisha. Shoma Chatterji writes about Sarangi's arrest, his activism and his films which deal with Adivasis and their struggles.

Since 1979, this Kolkata school has pioneered an educational process where kids from different economic and social sections of society study, play and share together as equals.

Violence during college union elections, the death of a protesting 22-year-old student in police custody and a resultant chain of events have led to earnest debates in West Bengal over whether students should stay away from active politics. Promona Sengupta explores the reality underlying prevailing sentiments.

Moved by a personal tragedy, young Bengali engineer-turned-actor Bobby Chakraborty has launched a singular campaign to educate schoolchildren about the impact of alcohol and other addiction and deter them from the path. Shoma A Chatterji brings us his story.

Developing countries must take a collective stand on 'Zero-Tolerance to Subsidies' to protect their agriculture, says Devinder Sharma.

Removal of agricultural subsidies should be a pre-requisite to further movement on the WTO agricultural negotiations, says Devinder Sharma.

The US PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament will use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in spectator badges to ensure fans maintain social distance at the July 16-19 event, Golf Digest reported Saturday.

French tennis chief Bernard Guidicelli admitted Sunday that Roland Garros, already controversially pushed back four months due to the coronavirus, could be staged behind closed doors.

NCP today slammed chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for not paying homage to the martyrs of 26/11 terror attacks by visiting the memorial built for them.

Jet had last Friday said that the incident happened when their plane was trying to take off from the runway. But the preliminary probe by Saudi authorities has found that the lane was trying to take off from a taxiway parallel to the take off-designated runway at full power.

He's one of the subcontinent's most exciting literary talents. His new book 'Noon' explores violence in South Asia. Son of Pakistani politician Salman Taseer, assassinated after defying Islamist groups, Aatish Taseer speaks with Srijana Mitra Das about nations, truth, lies and ties that bind - or break - people.

Forces have to get rid of their dependence on foreign weapon systems: General Bipin Rawat

Rakesh Gauria, 21, and his wife Saroj, 21, are living happily ever after. It could easily have been otherwise. Both of them belong to Chautala village, in the badlands of Haryana, where khaps or self-styled courts hound and kill couples that dare to marry within the same village.

The typical family drama in the TV soap or the Bollywood flick revolves around weddings and property disputes.

It is said that nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon. On the anniversary of the crisis-compelled 1991 reforms, amidst the ring of congratulatory applause and certification of successes, it is essential to assess if the political imperative for transformation has been influenced at all by the experience of 1991, if there is systemic change and, if indeed, the laurels are for real.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide topped four million as some of the hardest-hit countries readied Sunday to lift lockdown restrictions, despite concerns about the second wave of infections. Governments around the world are trying to stop the spread of the disease while scrambling for ways to relieve pressure on their economies with millions unemployed.

Top government sources told ANI that at the time of the incident, Pakistan was already carrying out an aerial exercise about which India also had information. "Soon after the death of the Colonel, the Pakistani Air Force increased its patrols involving its mix of fighter aircraft including the F-16s and the JF-17 which were being constantly monitored by our surveillance platforms," they said.