-Al Jazeera More than 100 workers have died of starvation since West Bengal's tea estates have begun shutting down. Jalpaiguri/Alipurduar, India - The picturesque tea gardens carpeting West Bengal's Dooars region are gradually turning into graveyards, as dozens of workers have fallen victim to starvation in recent months. More than 100 tea-garden workers have died of starvation in the past year amid site closures, activists say - but rather than taking action, the...

-The Hindu Police lathi-charge agitators after group clash Bhubaneswar: It was people's resistance that forced the administration to put off a public hearing on environmental clearance for coal mining at Machhakata in Chhendipada Block of Odisha's Angul district on Thursday. The State Pollution Control Board along with the local administration had made arrangements to conduct the public hearing despite strong opposition to mining in the coal block allotted to Mahaguj Collieries Limited, an...

-Down to Earth The move will give a boost to the export of the variety; help growers get a premium price for the fruit Citrus Reticulata Blanco, the world famous orange of Nagpur, was recently given the Geographical Indicators (GI) tag under the Geographical Indication of Goods, (Registration and Protection) Act 1999. This means the growers of the Nagpur orange, or Nagpur mandarin (as it is known to scientists), will now be...

-The Hindu   The reassuring message in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is that in pursuing its economic objectives, the government wants to accord an important role to the public sector even while relying on market mechanisms The goal is hard to achieve. It is costly and unviable. It will create huge stresses in the banking system. The Narendra Modi government's Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY), an ambitious scheme for financial...

-Outlook Admission Attained, it's not easy progress for EWS children Every day, at 7:15 am, Prachi's mother walks the six-year-old to her school in Pune, walking cautiously past the corner of the road, to avoid the giant SUVs and sedans zipping past after dropping the wards at the fortress-like school complex. Prachi enters the school with a few other children from her neighbourhood, a colony of waste-pickers. Prachi's mother is one...