-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has reclassified industries depending on their pollution potential, ranging from 60 "red" category units prohibited from ecologically fragile and protected areas to 36 "white" industries that will not require any environmental clearance. The list released today after a year-long internal exercise is intended to appropriately reflect the pollution potential of India's diverse industrial units taking into account their emissions, effluents, hazardous wastes and consumption...

-The Indian Express Kavita Desai, project director of the urban community development programme of the municipal corporation, said, “We are following the BPL list from 2000.” As soon as the doors of the goods wagon slid shut at the railway yard in Vadodara, a group of women tiptoed in, armed with brooms, sieves and cloth bags. They gently slipped under the wheels of the train, each staking claim to a spot. Then,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Launching the 'Housing for All' scheme last June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said a house is a "turning point" in the lives of the poor, which leads towards a better life. Now a government study on the benefits of houses for the poor in villages reveals how a pucca (concrete) house elevates status of the family and even plays a key role in marriages. The...

-Hindustan Times Revolution imminent… genetically modified seeds produced by MNCs cause farmer suicides. Incendiary, out-of-context sound-bites juxtaposed between heartrending visuals distort rural poverty from a complex issue that each Indian must help resolve to a simplistic, accusatory Peepli Live feature. Instead of quixotic and strident anti-growth agendas offered as panacea, a coordinated and consistent approach to poverty reduction is needed. Poverty reduction needs development. The linkage between economic growth and poverty reduction is...

-Economic and Political Weekly Chennai floods show the vulnerabilities that arise from the neglect of urban planning. In the second week of November, flood-marooned people in Chennai had an unlikely Good Samaritan. The cab service provider, Ola. As the city struggled to come to terms with its highest rainfall in 10 years, the cab company pressed in boats from an aquatic adventure outfit and secured the services of professional rowers and fishworkers...