-IANS A small sugarcane farmer in western Maharashtra, Bhau Kadam (name changed) and his family, own about three hectares of land. He has two sons who are both graduates and work in Pune. When I asked him why he did not make his sons farmers, he says that farming is hard work, is non-remunerative and it is difficult to get labour. Besides he also thinks that farming is not glamorous, a farmer's...

-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: Indian companies have acquired land more than nine times the size of Delhi on foreign shores, as cultivable land at home is lost to urbanisation, industry and infrastructure projects. Land Matrix, a global land monitoring initiative that tracks land dealings worldwide, placed India among the top 10 countries that have acquired large tracts of land abroad, primarily for agriculture, in Africa and Asia. The country ranks eighth,...

-The Hindu Poverty takes a huge toll on the mind and on this World Mental Health Day, the focus should be on the well-being offered by community-based alternative approaches In recent years, the impact of mental illness on the social and economic health of nations has been well understood, placing mental ill health as one of the leading causes of disability adjusted life years (DALY) worldwide. There has been much focus on...

-The Hindustan Times In recent years, there has been a constant stream of international attention given to the Indian middle class. Thanks to the expansion of this class, India's image has dramatically changed since the 1990s. Instead of the narrative about grinding poverty, India is now seen as the heart of new capitalism that is associated with high rates of growth as well as the consumerist elite and middle classes. The...

-Economic and Political Weekly A comparison of the consumption expenditure and associated nutritional intake data for 2009-10 with that of 2004-05 shows worsening poverty in terms of the percentage of people unable to reach the minimum required calories energy intake through their monthly spending on all goods and services. This result must be seen in the context of neo-liberal policy, the financial crisis and consequent global recession affecting export production, the...