On November 23, the Supreme Court is slated to hear a damning report submitted by the court-appointed Commissioners on how politically connected contractors—legally barred from the ICDS program—might be subverting the social welfare measure in the state of Maharashtra.  The ICDS is an Rs 8000 crore government-funded program aimed at ending India’s abysmal rates of child malnutrition by supplying hot cooked meals and take home rations to children through decentralised women-run,...

-The Indian Express Ganga Ram docs link ‘benign’ parasite with platelet drop, liver problems. A malaria parasite responsible for the milder form of the disease — Plasmodium vivax — has been linked with severe complications in patients. A new study by Sir Ganga Ram Hospital doctors on 165 patients, published in the journal Tropical Doctor, says the parasite may be deadlier than thought. Of 121 patients diagnosed with vivax malaria, three died of...

-The Economic Times The thick smog that settled over Delhi last Sunday is showing no signs of dissipating and has, in fact, intensified. Sunday was touted as the worst day of the week in terms of air quality as the general visibility did not go over 800m through the day and averaged about 400m. The Met department confirmed that agricultural fires in Punjab were contributing to about 20-30% of the pollution...

-The Indian Express Fifteen-year-old Altaf Hussain crouches effortlessly and heads into what looks like a black hole. Dragging a large wooden cart behind him, he disappears into the gaping darkness within seconds. After what seems like an endless wait but lasts just half an hour, he emerges from the hole with a cart laden with dark, glittering coal. The head of this group of 30 is Abu Kalam Mia. The 27-year-old ‘sardar’,...

-Down to Earth Rice cultivation has led to waterlogging and soil salinity in Haryana’s Jhajjar district CASTE-BASED khap panchayats of Haryana are usually in the news for passing regressive and, often, controversial orders in the name of honouring social customs. But this year in January, the Jhakkar khap panchayat of Jhajjar district gave a rather unusual order in the larger interest of the farming community. It ordered that all the 36...