-The Indian Express New Delhi: Nothing encapsulates all that’s wrong with Delhi’s air than Kaushambi, the 600-acre swathe of concrete on the edge of the National Capital Region. A garbage landfill, two inter state bus depots, a state highway, a national highway and two industrial estates: 30 years after work began on this integrated township on the edge of Delhi, Kaushambi is today a cauldron of toxic air housing at least 25,000...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, today went to Sondari village in Khunti, some 60km from Ranchi, asking village women how farming helped empower their lives. Around 10am, before they pushed off to their haats, fields or got bound to their family kitchens for the day, village women found Melinda in their midst. As the women spoke a mix of Mundari and Hindi and Melinda English,...

-AFP KANJHAWALA: Farmer Tarachand Mathur was one of millions of Indians who voted Narendra Modi into power last year, but the government's push to make it easier for big business to forcibly acquire land means he won't be backing the premier again. Mathur, 64, believes Modi has turned his back on the plight of farmers, many of whom have seen their crops devastated by unseasonal rains since the start of this year. "I...

-Business Standard When there is an enormous shortage of public hospitals, when state expenditure on health care is abysmally low by any international yardstick, tax money should be used to set up public hospitals Most relatively well-off Indians have got used to the idea of taking out medical insurance policies in order to take care of possible health episodes. It has been a rapidly growing business, doubling in four or five years....

-The Telegraph Jaipur: Before the cash flows, check the flush. The BJP-ruled state has linked hikes for rural staff and loans for poor farmers to having "functioning toilets" at home, with a senior official claiming the move is a first in the country. The order was issued yesterday and covers all government employees, including non-gazetted ranks like clerks, accountants, secretarial hands and anganwadi workers - who provide basic healthcare to mothers and toddlers...