-India Today Bhopal: Social activist Abdul Jabbar, who fought for victims and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, died on Thursday at a private hospital in Madhya Pradesh's capital city. Jabbar had been undergoing treatment for the past few months. The social activist had lost 50 per cent of his Vision and suffered lung fibrosis in the Bhopal gas tragedy, the world's worst industrial disaster. Please click here to read more. ...

-The New Indian Express The selective eating disorder has hit the Indian population like never before and there is nothing stopping it. Researchers say packaged food in India, which is fast replacing staple and balanced diet, is among the most unhealthy in the world. In the absence of clear policy measures, the population is faced with serious health complications such as obesity, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, and Type...

-The Hindu Business Line A dispersed pattern of urbanisation leads to sprawl with higher motorisation and pollution. A new urban Vision is needed India’s demographic dividend cannot be realised if young entrants to the labour force as well as potential migrants from agriculture do not gain new livelihoods. Hastening of the structural transformation brings with it three mega-challenges for policy-makers: employment of migrants; growing urbanisation; and ensuring better education and vocational training...

-The Hindu Business Line Noted Gandhian economist Dr Sudarshan Iyengar surveys the distressed agricultural landscape, pinpoints its weaknesses, and prescribes solutions with their roots in Gandhian agronomics. Edited excerpts from an interview to BusinessLine: * Given the agrarian crisis in India today, how relevant are Gandhi's economic principles based on the village economy, and equitable distribution of resources? They are relevant in the context of Gandhi's view of gram swaraj (village self-rule), which...

-IANS In the early days after the quota of women's elected membership -- initially 33 per cent and later raised to 50 per cent in 20 of the 28 states -- was introduced, many women were acting as proxies for their male relative. UNITED NATIONS: Two women sarpanchs have brought to the UN the story of India changing the rural power structure by empowering women through a programme of gender equality that...