-Sunday Pioneer A cluster of villages engaged in weaving the exquisite Benarasi sarees is in the midst of a serious health crisis. More than 1 lakh people from this once prosperous region have fallen prey to aggressive tuberculosis. Poor living conditions, working in dark rooms and constant inhalation of minute silk threads have weakened the lungs of these artisans. With an average monthly income of not more than Rs3,000, it is...

-DNA The government's lack of focus on agriculture shows its lopsided priorities. In the coming months, about 1.5 crore farmers who quit agriculture in the past seven years, are likely to trudge back into the villages. In normal circumstances such a massive reverse migration - from the cities back to the villages - would have been a sign of inclusive growth. But economists are taking this U-turn as a sign of...

-The Hindustan Times A sea of young people on a Delhi Metro last week offered a glimpse into the despair within young India. Most had taken the train from Delhi University — a hub of students from across the country — to the heart of the city, to take a test and apply for a job with a national bank. But there were only a few thousand vacancies — and 100,000 youngsters...

-Down to Earth UPA gives sops under MGNREGS to attract rural voters ahead of elections WITH most of its recent schemes struggling, a desperate UPA government is pinning its hopes on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to win votes in 2014 elections. The government is overhauling the employment scheme that helped it return to power in 2009 for a reason. It touches the lives of over 55 per cent...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Hundreds of elderly poor, who had assembled in Jantar Mantar in Delhi's biting cold, have turned their hopeful eyes toward the new Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, to draw his attention to the plight 14 lakh elderly poor in Delhi. In a letter written to Kejriwal, the Pension Parishad, led by Baba Adhav, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey among others, while congratulating Kejriwal, sought universalisation of pension...