-The Telegraph Jamshedpur: Work is underway on turning former Maoist hotbed West Singhbhum’s Manoharpur block into a hub of model villages sponsored by Union rural development ministry, a separate project that will operate simultaneously with the much-hyped Saranda Action Plan (SAP). The ministry headed by Jairam Ramesh has asked the state forest department to study all the 56 villages of the block and chalk out an integrated development project under the banner...

-DNA Mumbai has more undernourished children under the age of five than the whole of urban Maharashtra. Experts say malnutrition is prevalent amongthe slum dwellers, migrant labours and the city’s minority communities. A recent report on malnutrition, titled ‘India’s nutrition crisis: A challenge of putting nutrition back in our food’ by Narotam Sekhasaria Foundation, an NGO, reveals that more than half of the country’s upcoming generation— children under four years of age...

-The Indian Express A public hearing for environmental clearance to the proposed Gorakhpur nuclear power plant in Fatehabad district of Haryana came to an abrupt end Tuesday when members of the Opposition INLD led by Abhay Singh Chautala stormed the venue to protest acquisition of land for the plant. Kuldeep Bishnoi-led members of the Haryana Janhit Congress also reached the venue in support of farmers and activists opposed to the project for...

-The Economic Times The positive impact on agricultural wages and distress migration from rural areas not withstanding, the government's flagship rural employment scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, leaves a lot to be desired for. This is evident from the rural development ministry's compendium of more than 100 major research papers on the programme, MGNREGA Sameeksha. The slim 120-odd page volume, which is to be released by the Prime Minister...

-The Times of India The trade in tendu patta, used for bidi making, is estimated to be worth an annual Rs 20,000 crore and is monopolized by state corporations, contractors, traders and even left-wing extremists. This could change now with the tribal affairs ministry asking states to break the monopoly of state corporations and let tribals sell it freely.  Coming on the back of his remarks on the Bijapur killings, tribal affairs...