-IPS News NAYAGARH (IPS): Kama Pradhan, a 35-year-old tribal woman, her eyes intent on the glowing screen of a hand-held GPS device, moves quickly between the trees. Ahead of her, a group of men hastens to clear away the brambles from stone pillars that stand at scattered intervals throughout this dense forest in the Nayagarh district of India’s eastern Odisha state. The heavy stone markers, laid down by the British 150 years...

-The Hindu Given the high investment and negative incentives such as input subsidies, small farmers have not benefited from government schemes. Everything about the suicide of the farmer from Dausa, Gajendra Singh, save the tragedy for his family, has been theatre — the very public venue, the occasion of a political rally, the politicians happily playing their populist cards, and the media’s focus on trivialities. The tragedy is being skilfully milked for...

-IPS News BELLARY, India: HuligeAmma, a Dalit woman in her mid-forties, bends over a sewing machine, carefully running the needle over the hem of a shirt. Sitting nearby is Roopa, her 22-year-old daughter, who reads an amusing message on her cell phone and laughs heartily. The pair leads a simple yet contented life – they subsist on half a dollar a day, stitch their own clothes and participate in schemes to educate...

-The Tribune Modern farming techniques beyond the grasp of small & medium farmers Analyses of agrarian troubles in India are full of tragedy. The tragedy lies in two parts. In the first part is the sad story of a farmer who was distressed enough to commit suicide. In the second part is the outrageous behaviour of many bystanders who, in the name of being well-wishers of farmers, use the funeral fires not...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: India is facing a debilitating shortage of health specialists, including in basic disciplines such as surgery, gynaecology and paediatrics, statistics compiled by the National Health Mission show. Rural community health centres face over 82 per cent shortage in surgeons, physicians and peadiatricians — 82.5%, 82.6% and 82.2% respectively — and have only 23.4 per cent of the obstetricians and gynaecologists they require. The story in urban centres is...