-Al Jazeera The Internet and mobile communication are doing the most unexpected - resurrecting hoary languages given up for lost. In the language of the Bhatu Kolhati, a remote nomadic tribe in India's western Maharashtra state, tatti means tea and gulle is meat. But, Kuldeep Musale, 30, who belongs to this tribe barely remembers his mother tongue. Well educated and having studied in boarding schools since he was six, Musale instead uses...

-The Business Standard A quick recap of the intensely fractured debate on GM crops and what the pro & anti arguments are. After nearly a decade of opposition, Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is finally expected to rule in favour of the contentious GM or genetically modified food crops in India. The Economic Times reports that this will "pave the way for the government to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court agreeing...

-BBC A survey done earlier this year shows that public facilities in the poorest regions of India have steadily expanded, improving the lives of people there, writes development economist Jean Dreze. Once upon a time, not so long ago, public facilities in the poorest districts of India were few and far between. Most people were left to their own devices and they lived in the shadow of hunger, insecurity and exploitation, with no...

-The Hindu Tamil Nadu: With the price of LPG gas cylinders going up, the need of the hour is technology that can provide cooking gas - an efficient fuel - that will help the poor, particularly the rural population. Vivekananda Kendra-Natural Resources Development (Vk- Nardep), an NGO in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, has come out with a low-volume fixed model Shakthi-Surabhi gas generating plant, aimed at solving the energy problems of the rural...

-IIT Delhi A survey of five entitlement programmes of the government was undertaken in twenty districts of ten states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh) in May and June, 2013. The programmes covered by the survey were: Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, Public Distribution System (PDS), National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and Social Security Pensions. The...