-The Telegraph Standard model: The state provides a poor woman employment for 58 days a year, under the 100-day job guarantee scheme, at (Bengal's) daily wage rate of Rs 169. Cost: about Rs 20,000 over two years. Alternative: The state provides her an asset - maybe a small grocery - teaches her to run it and monitors her progress while giving a daily stipend for her consumption needs and ensuring basic healthcare...

-Khabar South Asia Madhusudankati Sulabh Safe Drinking Water Project (SSDWP) uses modern filtration technology to create affordable potable water for residents. Madhusudankati: Access to affordable potable water has long been a dream for Manu Ghosh, a native of eastern India's arsenic belt. Groundwater contamination there has poisoned and killed people for years. "Groundwater is largely unsafe here and branded packaged drinking water is quite expensive for us," Ghosh told Khabar South Asia. She...

-The Hindu Expressing serious concern over the extent of arsenic contamination in groundwater that has affected nearly 70 million people in 86 districts across 10 States, a Parliamentary panel led by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi has favoured "mission mode'' approach by the Centre to deal with the problem. Dr. Joshi tabled the first report of the Committee on Estimates on ‘Occurrence of High Arsenic Content in Ground Water' in...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Bengal government's decision to select insurance companies quoting the lowest premiums for a centrally funded health care scheme has hit private hospitals that are refusing patients citing non-payment of claims by the firms. Senior officials of the health department said thousands of poor patients registered under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana were being refused admission by hospitals and nursing homes across the state every month. The registered families...

-The Hindu   Kolkata (West Bengal): Of the 341 blocks in the State, 81 blocks have water with more arsenic than the permissible limit and 49 blocks with more fluoride than the standard value. North 24 Parganas district, where about 20 blocks are affected with arsenic contamination, is the worst affected and is followed by Nadia, where 17 blocks and Murshidabad with 14 blocks where arsenic in groundwater is higher than the limit. Certain...