Groundwater, which irrigates half of Indian agriculture and provides 85% of rural drinking consumption, is an increasingly scarce resource. There is a growing understanding that it must be approached as a common property resource for collective benefit. It is best understood and managed by those who live near them and use them rather than agencies who visit sporadically - that is the central premise of efforts around participatory groundwater management....

-Frontline Despite the negative observations and criticisms, there is a strong case for MGNREGS works to be continued even in States with high per capita incomes. Hisar and Fatehabad: CONTRARY to general opinion, demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is high in Haryana. Contrary also to the views in recent discussion papers, one of them commissioned by the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: KartikSawhney had to wage a battle before being allowed to study science in class XI. The CBSE was not convinced Kartik, who is completely blind, would be able to handle the 'visual inputs' - graphs, diagrams, models - required for science. The doubters got their answer on Monday. Kartik scored a 95% aggregate in science with computers in class XII. The DPS, R K Puram, student...

-The Indian Express A team of physicists from IIT-Delhi is conducting a five-day workshop to teach the subject to madrasa instructors in Taleemabad, near Jamia Hamdard. Speaking to a class of 30 madrasa instructors-turned-students, Vipin Tripathi, Dr Sanat Mohanty and Dr Pawan Kumar began their workshop by talking about bridges. The earnest maulanas, from Delhi and Faridabad, participate enthusiastically, as they are asked to figure out why a corrugated sheet makes...

-The Hindu   Neha Khator narrates the story of an NGO that transformed a backward village into a bustling city, with funds, of course, but also by fostering a sense of duty in its residents. Vimla Kanwar, a 70-year-old widow, had a problem. After her husband, a handloom yarn spinner, died of cancer, the officials at the Khadi Gram Udyog took away his charkha. Concerned about finding a means of survival at her...