In 2004, a boy was crushed to death by a vehicle when he was crossing the road in front of a school to fetch water. The school, in the heart of the nation’s capital, did not have drinking water facilities. Seven years later, courtesy the NGO Environmental and Consumer Protection Foundation and the Supreme Court, all Indian states (the last two being Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir) have given...

-The Telegraph   An encounter with hungry children at a government-run school left chief minister Arjun Munda apoplectic with rage on the second day of his road trip through Palamau. Munda’s interaction today with students of Classes I and III of Rajkiya Utkrisht Mahavidyalaya at Chhattarpur, about 35km from the Daltonganj circuit house, began with a question from him: “Kaisa lag raha hai, khana theek milta hai (How are you liking it, are...

-The Times of India   The frustration of Vidarbha farmers was brought to the state government's notice in a bizarre incident on Sunday. A distressed farmer drank poison in front of the chief minister and thousands of agriculturists at a public meeting in Amravati district on Sunday. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan was addressing a municipal poll campaign meeting in Dhamangaon Railway taluka of Amravati. Soon after he began his speech, farmer Arun Sabhane...

Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh admitted lapses of the past but spoke of a new beginning today in Saranda while unveiling an action plan for the forest region that was under the shadow of Maoist terror for over a decade. Armed with goodies like bicycles and transistor radios for residents of Chotanagra panchayat, about 120km from district headquarters of Chaibasa, Ramesh made it clear that the implementation of the development...

-IBNS   A group of about 35 women economists from different countries of Europe, UK, US, Australia and India, have written an open letter to Prime Ministers and Presidents of South Asian nations, including India, which are facing acute sanitation crisis. From India, Jayati Ghosh, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Bina Agarwal, Director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University and Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson Board of Governors, Indian...