-The Telegraph Ranchi: Over six lakh people engaged in jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jharkhand have not got their daily wages since September 15, the backlog on Tuesday standing at an estimated Rs 155 crores, making it a dim Diwali for the state's poorest. The onus of this lies on Jharkhand as the Centre has withheld funds as the state government has not yet handed...

During the Bengal famine of 1943-44, over 2 million people died due to starvation, diseases and malnutrition, among other things. According to scholars, the apathy of the British government was largely responsible for such a massive tragedy. Despite the enacting of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, the situation of the downtrodden and the poor has not changed much in the country as compared to pre-Independence time. On 28...

-IndiaClimateDialogue.net In north Bihar, where floods devastate standing crops with increasing regularity in an era of climate change, a marginalised community is fighting all odds to protect an indigenous flood-resistant variety of rice. Sahorwa village is caught between the embankments of two major rivers in north Bihar. Between the Kosi river’s western embankment and Kamla Balan river’s eastern embankment, this village of 110 Musahar families remains flooded for seven to eight months...

-The Hindu Business Line Asks ministry to define stand on Aadhaar-linkage, cash Transfers New Delhi: Coming close on the heels of a 11-year-old girl reportedly dying in Jharkhand as her family did not possess Aadhar cards for rations, the All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Federation said that in many States such as West Bengal, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, departments were directing Anganwadi workers to link the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Two information officers who helped make public RTI documents on land allotment to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda in March this year, were Transferred less than a fortnight later, raising questions on whether the officials were penalised for their actions. On March 8, TOI had reported on the shunting of IAS officer Bijay Kumar from the finance department shortly after he questioned the basis of a 75% discount...