-The Hindu   The project has been started in Edaiyapatti panchayat in Pudukottai Pudukottai district is one of the driest regions in Tamil Nadu. The major crops under tank fed and open well irrigation system in this region in Tamil Nadu are paddy, millets, black gram and groundnut. Pulses like green, black and red gram are generally grown as a rainfed crops especially during summer. But the harvested pulses do not fetch a good...

-The Indian Express     Mumbai: It's been eight months since the state government launched ‘Manodhairya Yojana', a scheme to provide monetary relief and rehabilitation for rape and acid attack victims, including women and children. But with little advocacy, lack of counsellors in civic-run hospitals, poor post-trauma support as mandated by the scheme, and most importantly, policy apathy, ‘Manodhairya' risks being a laudable scheme just on paper. AAMIR KHAN and TABASSUM BARNAGARWALA speak...

-BBC   Forced labour generates illegal profits of at least $150bn (£90bn; 110bn euros) a year, a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) says. The profits are far higher than previous estimates and the ILO wants governments to tackle the problem. Some 21 million people worldwide are in forced labour, it says, with migrant workers most vulnerable. Over half of all forced labourers work in Asia, with 18% in Africa and almost 10% in...

-The Business Standard   A seven-point agenda to fix India's public services, and overcome poorly designed systems India's Achilles Heel remains its inability to deliver public services. India's aspiration to be a global economic power will be unrealised if this remains unsolved. Why is this problem so particularly acute? Is it political interference and corruption, poorly designed programmes and weak administration? Or a much deeper cultural problem of aversion to collective action, often...

-Frontline   Political parties flush with funds provided by corporate houses are winning over journalists, and some news organisations are creating packages for election coverage, making the phenomenon of ‘paid news' all pervasive. THE credibility of journalism and journalists has been greatly undermined by the scourge of cash for coverage, a much-abhorred sickness in the profession worldwide. News space on television, radio and newsprint is compromised with impunity with blatant advertising parading...