-The Telegraph Rohtas: The Kaimur plateau, once an arms training centre for Maoist cadres, is turning out to be a hub of medicinal plants. Thanks to Ritesh Kumar Pandey, a progressive farmer, the plateau has turned from "red to green". Cultivation of medicinal plants such as ghreet kumari (aloe vera), ashwagandha (withania somnifera) and shatavar or satavari (asparagus recemosus) on the water-starved land has created a buzz among the residents of Maoist-hit districts...

-IPS News PESHAWAR, Pakistan- They are contraband, yet a large number of Pakistanis have come to depend on drugs made in India and smuggled into Pakistan. Patients as well as doctors say these are cheap and effective, even as law enforcers look the other way. The two countries do not have a trade agreement on drugs, but markets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north of Pakistan do brisk business in India-made...

-Live Mint Mint examines why millions of women are missing from farms, factories, colleges, and offices in India, which has one of the lowest ratios of working women in the world Mumbai: Every monsoon, minivans ferrying women labourers can be seen making their way from the small sleepy town of Wardha to Waifad village, 18 kilometres away. Urban workers from Wardha have come to occupy an integral part of Waifad's farm...

-PTI   Laxmi, a victim of acid attack has been selected by the US for the prestigious International Women of Courage Award. Ms. Laxmi would receive the award from First Lady Michelle Obama at an awards ceremony in Washington. She was 16 when an acquaintance threw acid on her face while she waited at a bus stop in New Delhi's Khan Market in 2005, disfiguring her permanently. "Many acid attack victims never return to normal...

-The Asian Age "The replacement of the rich diversity of Punjab with monocultures of rice in the kharif season and wheat in the rabi season has also contributed to the impoverishment of the soils and farmers" The year 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, a military operation which took place in June 1984 in Punjab. It was ordered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his...