Youngsters in certain parts of India today cannot choose their partners. If they still do and the choice violates arbitrary, extra-legal norms set down by caste panchayats, the consequence can be death. Isn't it time we built a popular movement against the medieval practice of honour killings, asks AMMU JOSEPH. A newly-wed bride and her mother-in-law were killed and the groom seriously injured by the girl's relatives in the Tarn...

India is setting up a $150-million corpus using funds from the World Bank, European Union and the UK government’s Department for International Development to hatch innovative strategies to universalise secondary education. Called the National Innovation Fund, the corpus will provide financial support to out-of-the-box projects for which budgetary funds cannot be used because of the risk of failure, top government officials have told The Telegraph. “Think of the fund like a...

‘The Indian farm area under organic likely to grow' To commemorate tenth anniversary of the implementation of National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), a “National Conference-India Organic 2000-2010” was held here over the weekend in which the growth of organic movement across the country was highlighted. Speaking on the occasion, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) advisor Dr. P.V.S.M. Gauri said the Indian farm area under organic was likely...

The global platform for action on gender equality and women’s empowerment was fixed in Beijing 15 years ago and international organizations like the ILO, women activists and researchers, policymakers, etc all over the world have advocated for gender equality in the world of work for even longer. Although women constitute almost 41 per cent of the global labour force, yet the productive potential of women workers still remains grossly undermined....

India should look at Latin American countries to keep its food security intact. With little or no investment in the agriculture sector,it is estimated that 45% of Indian farmers want to quit farming—supply-side constraints have been a major causeforconcern. Add to that rapidly falling water tables in North India – India’s bread basket, and erratic monsoons from climate change leading to domestic food output falling short of demand, repeatedlyinthefuture. Talking...