-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: The Centre is hoping to achieve a growth rate of 8 per cent in the economy and 4 per cent in the agriculture sector this year. “We are growing at the rate of 7 per cent and this year we hope our agriculture growth will be more than 4 per cent,” Arjun Meghwal, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, has said. Addressing the valedictory...

-TheHoot.org Every winter stories are run about how the homeless need more shelters. During the monsoon and the heat – media silence. On World Homeless Day, BHARAT DOGRA argues for less seasonal coverage The homeless constitute the poorest section of our urban population and they live pretty close to where the media is based.  Some of the highest concentrations of homeless people are within a 10 kms radius of the media hub...

-Bloomberg When farmers in the scorched village of Horti in Western India were struggling to raise money for a canal, they turned to an unlikely source: a crowdfunding website called FuelADream. The farmers had never heard of crowdfunding before, but a local non-profit group suggested the site and helped them write a proposal that explained how a canal would help feed local families. Within weeks, they had raised Rs 300,000 ($4,490) from...

-The Telegraph Ahmedabad: Jignesh Mewani, 35, had a pleasant surprise when he returned home on Monday evening. A group of neighbours in the predominantly middle-class Dalit locality of Chwalnagar in Ahmedabad were waiting for him with flowers, near a small stage they had erected to felicitate their newfound "hero". The previous evening and through the day, they had watched the young Dalit activist on TV and read about him in newspapers, awestruck at...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: The deep-rooted gender bias in our society is being propagated by the revised school textbooks in Rajasthan. Ample instances hinting at male superiority have been found in Hindi and English revised textbooks. Class III Hindi textbook chapter 'Games' has three pictures showing only boys playing games, indicating that sports is meant only for boys. In most chapters, women have been introduced in reference to men, says a...