-The Hindu Some hydel projects that claim exemption from environmental clearance on the basis of size provide a misleading picture of their impact Why would more than four gram panchayats, environmental activists from three States, the presiding swami of the Subramanya Temple, botanists, fisheries scientists, and institutions like the Indian Institute of Science oppose a small hydel project in a remote corner of the Western Ghats in Karnataka? Aren't small hydel projects...

-The Hindu MADURAI: Muthumari's day starts at 4 a.m. She milks her cows in the cowshed behind the house and keeps cans of milk ready to be collected by a pickup van from a private dairy company. Then she turns to her household chores and sends her children off to school. Packing the day's food for herself, she proceeds towards the fields in her village at Udayanpatti. She is not just a...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has asked the Centre to bring parity between wages under the rural employment guarantee programme and those given by states for agricultural labour under the Minimum Wages Act. The recommendation of the panel, headed by BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan, comes as a shot in the arm for the rural development ministry's proposal to link wages under the rural employment programme and the minimum wages...

-The Hindustan Times The UPA government faces a key test in Parliament on Tuesday in passing its flagship food security bill, the same day the "game-changing" scheme is launched in three Congress-ruled states - Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand. Top ministers, along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Monday held a strategy meet on how to juggle major amendments, or alterations, proposed by the Opposition. Separately, food minister KV Thomas met Samajwadi Party...

-The Hindu Overcoming son preference in India remains a daunting challenge as even educated women are prone to it Have women fared better than men, and girls better than boys in the last decade or so? In the din over a dramatic reduction in poverty in the period 2009/10-2011/12 that is unlikely to die down, deep questions about the discrimination and deprivation that women face from the womb to the rest of...