-The Hindu Building on the work by RTI activists, India needs to set up a mechanism that can make for accountability on the sources and utilisation of party funds Throughout the world, political parties collect funds to build and sustain the organisation, to train party cadres and fight elections. Recognising that they are the main link to the citizens (as voters) and, by implication, the mainstay of democracy, many countries, including India,...

-Grist Media The proposed Food Security Bill will likely raise the demand for dal across India. While farmers and consumers are against it, the government keeps favouring the agri-industry and importing more and more cheap versions to offset rising inflation. But why won't India produce its own dal anymore? Nowhere are Canada's agricultural production plans tracked more closely than in India's Ministry of Food & Consumer Affairs. As it struggles to meet...

-The Hindu In a region of poor yields, a gritty woman farmer succeeds even in years of crop failure. But high costs are depleting Vidarbha's success stories "I am the farmer, he did no farming. He only moons over his cattle, he loves those cows (even if they yield just a litre of milk each). Men hang around the village, women are in the fields." Leelabai is speaking of one of Yavatmal's most...

-The Hindustan Times Chandigarh: Ecological issues have delayed the start of river-bed mining, an idea propagated by Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal with the aim of extracting enough sand not only to meet the growing demand but also to control its skyrocketing rates in the market. The plan may not be implemented immediately as the proposed quarries would require clearance from the state environment impact assessment authority. Also, environmentalists fear...

-The Telegraph Children in government and public-funded schools across India will receive a weekly tablet of iron and folic acid to reduce anaemia under a programme to be launched this week. The initiative will cover about 60 million boys and girls enrolled in Classes VI to XII at government and aided schools, a senior health official said today. It will also cover 70 million out-of-school girls, aged 10 to 19, under the Integrated...