-The Telegraph People who stop smoking before the age of 40 may on average gain an extra 10 years of life expectancy, according to a study that researchers say has relevance to India where people typically quit only after falling ill. A British study described as the world’s largest to assess the hazards of smoking and the benefits of quitting has shown that quitting before 40 can help avoid excess mortality observed...

-The Hindu Tamil Nadu’s Solar Energy Policy can go a long way in addressing the supply-demand mismatch The State’s solar initiative can draw on the strengths of its robust wind power programme Is the sun the answer to Tamil Nadu’s power crisis? With the unveiling of the Solar Energy Policy last week, Tamil Nadu joins the long list of States trying to find a way of harnessing this source of renewable energy...

-The Hindustan Times The recent spurt in protests against projects from Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu to Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh to Tata’s Power Plant in Mundra, Gujarat, has raised a key question --- are American and European philanthropic groups supporting these agitations?   A conference organised by such groups from the two most developed regions of the world --- US and Europe --- in Istanbul this July provides an insight how...

-The Hindu How is it possible for a teacher to discipline a child even without scolding? I was born in a family of three daughters to parents who were not conversant in English. I was admitted to an Anglo-Indian School in Chennai in the middle level. The school had a lovely campus with a beautiful church inside. I did feel lost for some time, but I quickly fell into the groove mainly...

-Outlook Chennai: Attempting to capitalise on 300 clear sunny days available in the state annually, Tamil Nadu government today unveiled a new solar energy policy, envisaging to produce over 3000 MW of power, exclusively from solar power, in the next three years. Christened as 'Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy 2012,' the new initiative of the Jayalalithaa government, with a slew of encouraging features, finds opportunity in the rapidly declining solar power costs...