-The Hindu     There is little demonstrated evidence of health benefits from access to ‘improved' stoves and clean fuels Around three billion of the world's poorest people have to burn firewood, animal dung, crop waste and coal to cook food and heat homes, using traditional stoves and open fires. The health-damaging smoke that results is estimated to cause some four million premature deaths each year, principally of women and children. Although many governments, multinational...

-The Hindu     Lawmakers are eager to appear resolute in the fight against crime, but seem to forget that certainty of punishment, not severity, is the real deterrent "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," said Mahatma Gandhi. The death penalty is unjust and inhuman. Its continued use is a stain on a society built on humanitarian values, and it should be abolished immediately. Many think that there could be nothing wrong...

-Frontline India has persistently high rates of newborn mortality, over three lakh a year, and accounts for 29 per cent of all first-day deaths globally. MORE than one million babies die on the first day of life globally, making the first 24 hours the most dangerous day for babies in nearly every country. These are some of the key findings in Save the Children's 14th annual "State of the World's Mothers" report: Every...

-Frontline Despite the negative observations and criticisms, there is a strong case for MGNREGS works to be continued even in States with high per capita incomes. Hisar and Fatehabad: CONTRARY to general opinion, demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is high in Haryana. Contrary also to the views in recent discussion papers, one of them commissioned by the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices...

-The Times of India Vina Mazumdar, academic, activist and one of the pioneers of women's studies in India, passed away on May 30. Renowned anthropologist Joan Mencher pays her a tribute. Vina Mazumdar (1927-2013)-"Vinadi" to colleagues and friends-a veteran fighter for Indian women's rights and pioneer of feminist studies, passed away in Delhi on May 30, 2013. She had been ailing since March of this year. I first met her in the...