-Business Standard The committee has suggested an umbrella law to help set up new national and state-level regulators that would also take the powers of the existing pollution control boards The T S R Subramanian committee, constituted about three months ago to review laws related to environment and forest protection, has recommended some big-ticket changes to the rules and legislation. These include a complete overhaul of certain laws, special fast-track dispensation...

-TheBetterIndia.com Surya Prakash Rai started PRAYOG and created a library in a village in Bihar which has changed lives of over 400 students in many ways. From eliminating the caste system to encouraging students in taking education seriously, read how Surya's efforts are improving the conditions and attitude in rural Bihar. Vijay Kumar Chauhan is a Bihari youth, born to a landless daily-wage-worker family. He migrated to Ludhiana at the young age...

There is some good news amid gloom! Preliminary findings of a survey in India as quoted by the Global Nutrition Report 2014 shows that prevalence of malnutrition among children aged below 5 years has come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14, even though we have a long way to go. (See links and bullet points below). The survey on malnutrition and hunger, called the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), was conducted after...

-The Indian Express Kolkata: The government on Wednesday passed the West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2014, in which the ambit for exemption has been widened. In addition, the government has also been lenient with industrialists who have plans to sit idle with their land. Earlier, while industriaists were allowed to keep the allotted land unused under Section 14Y for a maximum period of three years, under the new law they will...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Law minister Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday ruled out taking the ordinance route for any amendments in the Land Acquisition Act though he said the government was in favour of bringing some changes. "There is a proposal. The call has to be taken by the concerned (rural development) ministry," he said, without elaborating on the proposed changes. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had last week said the government will...