-The Economic Times Where will India get its water from in the coming years? The water challenge is already grave and could get graver. By 2050, for instance, it is estimated that demand would go up to 1,180 million cubic metres, 1.65 times the current levels, a situation that would be made worse by fast dwindling fresh water resources. That's why desalination — removing salt from seawater to make fresh water —...

-Frontline Members of denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes, treated as criminal tribes by the colonial rulers, have no place to call their own and no land, no rights, and no support from the government.  Emaciated, eyes sunken deep into sockets, skin hanging loose, almost gasping for breath, Indro Devi and Sarvnath, a couple in their eighties, lie on polythene sheets in an 8×10 square-foot tent made of rags, by a stinking nullah...

-PTI Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and six other states having literacy levels less than the national average will get enhanced Central share under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programme, with the Planning Commission approving a proposal to this effect. These states will be getting funds in the ratio of 75:25 as against the existing ratio of 65:35. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will also be included along with the northeastern states where funding...

India earned another dubious distinction in child mortality with the highest number of deaths of children under-five-years of age, according to a UNICEF report released in September 2012. India's toll is higher than the deaths in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan put together. Globally, almost 19,000 children under five years of age die every day across the world a quarter of which is in India alone. India accounted for...

-The Hindustan Times Indian households, already paying more for food, could see prices remain high because of a likely fall in farm output, despite an abating drought. Although the monsoon has improved to be only 8% below average until September 12, production of pulses, cereals and sugar is likely to decline from last year's levels, when India posted a record harvest. "Although stocks are plentiful now, prices remain a real cause of concern...