-Outlook Nagpur: Gajanan Ghadge, former deputy Sarpanch of Khursapur village in the district who was named by Arvind Kejriwal yesterday as someone whose Land was given away to BJP president Nitin Gadkari's firms, was missing since last evening, his family said. Durga Ghadge, his wife, said her husband was missing. "If he does not come back by tomorrow morning, we will lodge a police complaint," she told reporters. However, earlier in the day,...

-AFP NURJAHANPALLY: When Mahatma Gandhi took up the baton for home-grown cotton a century ago, he may not have realised the devastating impact its cultivation would have on the Land he so loved. Cotton is a thirsty plant and parts of the country are drought-prone. But the intensive farming process for cotton leaches the soil and requires high pesticide and fertiliser use that pollutes further downstream. Now in Warangal, dotted with statues to...

-Outlook Mumbai: Seeking to corner the opposition on Maharashtra's irrigation scam, the Nationalist Congress Party demanded today that a white paper should cover functioning of all irrigation corporations in the state since its inception during the Sena-BJP government. Addressing a press conference, NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said that the Krishna Valley Development Corporation, Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KIDC), Tapi Irrigation Development Corporation (TIDC), Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) and Godavari Marathwada Irrigation...

-The Hindu If a creditable scheme to promote menstrual health hygiene is not to become an environmental hazard, distributing biodegradable products is a must In June 2010, the Centre approved an unprecedented scheme to promote menstrual health by distributing subsidised sanitary pads among adolescent girls. Priced at Rs.1 each, the pads were targeted at 15 million girls between the years of 10 and 19, and across 152 districts in 20 States. It...

-The United Nations Despite the growing number of nature reserves, national parks and other protected areas around the world, half of the globe’s richest biodiversity zones remain entirely unprotected, according to a United Nations report presented today. Amongst the report’s other main findings are that protected areas are being managed in a more equitable way, with a greater role for indigenous communities – but current investment in protected areas is only around...