-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: With space constraints, creating a garden in Mumbai to grow pesticide-free vegetables and fruits may seem like a far-fetched idea. But one group of organic farming enthusiasts has shown how growing an organic kitchen garden in the city is quite an achievable feat. For the past five years, Urban Leaves India - a group of amateur organic farmers - has been spreading awareness about urban farming in Mumbai....

-The Business Standard The cracker industry in Sivakasi is estimated to be worth about Rs 3,500 cr B Bagyalakshmi, S Mahalakshmi and K Sankaralingam have two things in common. All used to work in firecracker and matchbox making units at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu. However, they rebuilt their lives after studying at the National Child Labour Project (NCLP)'s special training centres, run with the financial assistance from Central and state governments. While...

-The Indian Express We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to succeed in his national campaign to tackle the vast problems of the poor in Bharat. But his one-time contractor turned Union minister for rural development is succeeding in making his own prime minister look contradictory and indecisive to the nation and the world. The prime minister talks about constructing toilets and improving sanitation, opening bank accounts for every poor, excluded family,...

-The Financial Express The proposed MGNREGA changes can help plug the leakages and enhance agriculture productivity There is good news about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme. Recent press reports reveal that the rural development minister, Nitin Gadkari, has instructed lowering of the mandatory share for unskilled wages in total expenditure from the current 60% to 51%. He has also directed, quite rightly, that 50% of the expenditure be...

-The Guardian Narendra Modi may be feeling flush enough to spend millions on putting a loo in every home, but people also need to understand why they should use them From being the humble recipient of human waste, the toilet has reached the exalted status of being the subject of speeches by India's Narendra Modi. The prime minister promised to put a toilet in every home by 2019 in his independence...