-Hindustan Times Mumbai: In a step to reduce the weight of school bags, the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research ( Balbharti), which creates textbooks for schools that follow the state education board curriculum, is coming up with an application. The app will let students read textbooks on their mobiles. But there is no word on semester-wise textbooks and other initiatives promised by the government as part of...

-Down to Earth Are people more important or IPL, Court asks associations of drought-hit Maharashtra and Mumbai The Bombay High Court has rapped the Mumbai and Maharashtra cricket associations for scheduling 19 of the 60 matches to be held during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur even as the state reels under severe water scarcity. The court stated that Maharashtra ought to prioritise its water usage according...

-Livemint.com Average workplace employs 2.24 people; more than two-thirds do not have any hired labour With election season in West Bengal and Kerala underway, many would be Interested in knowing why the Indian Left is in such dire straits. One could offer a cheeky answer to this question. An overwhelming majority of Indian workers do not come across a capitalist worthy of committing class exploitation, which would have made them gravitate...

-Business Standard FCRA amendment raises questions about ethical governance The little-noticed announcement in the Finance Bill to retrospectively amend a clause in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) does little to enhance the government's reputation for ethical governance. The amendment, to apply from 2010, will mean that donations to political parties by Indian companies with foreign direct investment within mandated sectoral limits will no longer be considered "foreign contributions". The FCRA bans...

-Down to Earth Participants voice concern on drought, farmers' suicide and water conservation, among other issues The three-day long Kisan Swaraj Sammelan held in Hyderabad (April 1 to 3) urged for the enactment of a Farmers’ Income Guarantee Act to ensure dignified earning levels for agricultural households among a host of other things. Organised by the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture, a group comprising 400 diverse organisations from across India, the...