-The Telegraph New Delhi: The National Commission for Women has decided to form an expert panel to help institutions deal with complaints of sexual harassment at workplace after many organisations said it was difficult finding a "credible outsider" who could be part of their internal committees. At least one employer, who had approached the NCW for advice, said it was tough to decide who was credible enough and claimed that the solution...

-The Telegraph Ahmedabad: If "pay and use" toilets can't slay the demon of open defecation, perhaps "get paid for not using" will. So believes the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, which plans to shame the city's dump-it-in-the-open brigade by catching them in the act every morning and paying them Re 1 on the spot. Will this not be an incentive for the offenders to stick to the old habit rather than shed it? Civic health...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Anganwadi centres across the country will soon go hi-tech with the government planning to equip them with tablet PC devices installed with a customised software for regular monitoring of nutrition supply to malnourished children. The software will enable anganwadi workers (AWWs) to upload various data like dietary intake and health updates of children and supply of foodgrains and supplementary nutrition on a daily basis. The move will help the government...

-The Hindu ‘They juggle multiple tasks and are often unable to vent their frustration’ Fifteen people commit suicide every hour in India, shows the most recent data by the National Crime Records Bureau. Of these, around 17 per cent are housewives. In contrast, suicide by farmers makes up only 3 per cent of all suicides. The NCRB divides the total suicides into 10 professional categories — housewife, service (government), service (private), public sector...

-Economic and Political Weekly A categorical distinction is facing rough weather--that between urban and rural. If we take just agriculture, there is so much of the outside world that comes in not just as external markets but as external inputs. Further, many of our villages barely qualify as rural if we were to take occupation alone. So the earlier line that separated the farmer from the worker in towns is slowly...