-DNA Tirunelveli (TN): Faced with a series of agitations, police on Wednesday arrested eight teachers for allegedly forcing Dalit students to clean toilets in a government-aided high school at a village in the district. Backed by some political outfits, local Dalits have been staging a series of agitations in the past weeks demanding action against the teachers alleging that they were forcing the students of the school in Keelapathai Pandithankurichi near Kalakkad....

-Economic and Political Weekly Direct benefi t transfers in the form of cash cannot replace the supply of food through the public distribution system. Though it is claimed otherwise, DBT does not address the problems of identifying the poor ("targeting") and DBT in place of the PDS will expose the vulnerable to additional price fluctuation. Further, if the PDS is dismantled, there will also be no need or incentive for procurement...

-The Indian Express Adopt more stringent fuel quality and emission standards — and push for the national automobile pollution and fuel authority Approximately 20 years ago, in 1995, a process was started that held great promise for ameliorating the serious air pollution problem in Delhi. Under a provision of the Indian Constitution, environmental lawyer M.C. Mehta filed a public interest litigation with the Supreme Court, seeking relief from the serious health risks...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: The city records more road accidents than any other metropolis in the country — 9,705 accidents left 1,247 people dead and 8,700 injured in 2013 — and police officers, experts and regular road users all agree that the proclivity of Chennai's motorists to blatantly disregard traffic rules is to blame more than anything else. The situation on the streets is so bad that commuters are usually at...

-Economic and Political Weekly Unlimited growth for prosperity in a fi nite planet is not possible. Ecological economists like Tim Jackson, Peter Victor, and others talk about prosperity without growth and highLIGht the need for greening the economy on a community scale. Using the "criteria of green economy enterprise" set by Jackson and Victor as a tool, this article looks at khadi production, India's community-level cloth production system. Sumanas Koulagi (k.sumanas@yahoo.in) is...