-The Indian Express New street vendors act is welcome. But questions of hawkers' rights come down to our understanding of city spaces and people. The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2014, was finally passed by the Rajya Sabha on February 19 and received presidential assent last week. This is to be lauded. Since the late 19th century, the official view has been to treat street...

-The Hindu Hyderabad: The road to motherhood is fraught with risks for women visiting the two government maternity hospitals in the city, says a recent study by women's group ‘Stree Vimukti Sanghatana'. A report detailing the matter was presented to Principal Secretary, Health, L.V. Subramanyam on Monday. The study reveals the appalling conditions prevalent at the teaching hospitals at Petla Burz and Koti, which are frequented by poor pregnant women from Old...

-The Hindu There is a general view that agriculture is not a remunerative profession. But for those who continue to do farming, there seems to be no choice. Either they leave the fields fallow or sell the lands for quick money. "Reasons for being unremunerative are many like high cost of inputs, inability to break even in profit, marketing etc. But in spite of all these problems there are people like...

-The Business Standard Crimes against women are rising due to poor urban design and governance Urban crimes, particularly those directed at women, have been a cause of growing outrage in India over the last couple of years. Given the frequency and nature of some of these crimes, the outrage is entirely justified. But why are we witnessing such a sharp increase in crimes against women? Self-styled social activists and intellectuals love...

-The New York Times BOLLIKUNTA, India - Latha Reddy Musukula was making tea on a recent morning when she spotted the money lenders walking down the dirt path toward her house. They came in a phalanx of 15 men, by her estimate. She knew their faces, because they had walked down the path before. After each visit, her husband, a farmer named Veera Reddy, sank deeper into silence, frozen by some terror...