-Down to Earth Faced with crop losses because of erratic rainfall and extreme weather, tribal farmers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh turn to bewar and penda forms of cultivation that keeps them nourished all times of the year, but government agencies are bent on rooting out these farm practices Hariaro Bai Deoria should have been a worried person this year-an untimely spell of rain late last October flattened her paddy crop, and...

-The Indian Express Year on year from June to December, communal clashes more than treble. Patna: Bihar has seen 87 major and minor communal clashes between June and December 2013, over three times the 24 incidents during the corresponding period of 2012. This coincides with the split of the ruling JD(U) with the BJP, an alliance of 17 years, and comes after seven-and-a-half years without a single major communal clash. A monthly break-up...

-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: Nearly half of the operations launched by the anti-corruption branch based on complaints lodged by residents on the Delhi government's anti-corruption helpline are against the police. According to sources in the helpline, the staff of the three municipal corporations is the second most 'corrupt' group. In nearly 30% of the cases, civic officials are under the scanner of anti-corruption sleuths. "There are 350 cases that require a sting...

-Outlook Jaipur: As many as 52 child labourers within the age group of 7 to 12 years were rescued from the clutches of minority contractors who involved them in making bangles and handicraft items at a house here, police said today. The police Arrested five persons, identified as Mohammad Fareed, Mubarik, Shakeel, Mohd Juned and Hasseed, all hailing from Bihar, and booked them under various sections of Child Protection Act and the...

-The Alternative I have been volunteering for social issues since my childhood. I spent most of my childhood with my parents in our agriculture fields in our village, Paleannaram (Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh) where I've been a real witness to climate change. My childhood was great because we never faced any water problem for farming and didn't use so many fertilizers on the crops for yields. The way climate is changing, it...