-The Telegraph Manju Cherva (26), a tribal woman of Binua village, West Singhbhum district, is a school dropout. If you ask Manju to spot her block - Manoharpur - on Jharkhand's map, she'll fumble. But she's among 21 women who are making sure that Binua's children can map their ambition and shine in life by getting to study after sunset. Binua is one of India's 18,000-odd villages that live without electricity in...

-The Hindu Activists oppose diversion of forest land citing continuing non-compliance of several requisites The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is reconsidering its clearance for the controversial Kalu Dam in Thane district. About 999.328 hectares of forest land in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats region is up for diversion for the drinking water project for Mumbai and Thane. Work on the project had been...

-The Hindustan Times Women hold up half the sky. But evidence suggests that more than half the sky is crushing women, particularly poor women. These days, women struggling to retain their lives and livelihoods against POSCO's proposed plant, in Jagathsingpur, Orissa, are experiencing this first hand. They get beaten and threatened, their demands ignored. In Govindpur village, the tension is palpable, as the confrontation has been violent for some time now. So angry are...

-Tehelka A public issue is not truly public unless Markandey Katju has passed judgement. Rahul Kotiyal and Ajachi Chakrabarti stand downwind "Journalists" writes Markandey Katju, with little sense of irony, "comment on everything under the sun." He goes on to say that when the shoe is on the other foot, when someone comments on journalism, it is misconstrued as an attack on press freedom. That when he announces he is appointing a...

-DNA You may be cursing when you pay a high price for Kashmiri apples, wondering what share of the moneyorchard owners would receive. But in reality, the apple growers wouldn't be even knowing the price at which the fruit is sold in the mainland, leave alone reaping profits. Then, where does the money go? Into the pockets of commission agents, who, sitting in Delhi or any of the major cities, exploit and...