-The Hindustan Times The controversy over on-screen smoking seems to have intensified, with the Centre on Tuesday saying Indian tradition does not promote smoking by women, in the Supreme Court. Referring to Madhur Bhandarkar's forthcoming movie Heroine, senior advocate V Shekhar, representing the health ministry, told the SC that the notification allowing on-screen smoking with riders would be issued on September 14. The film's producer, UTV Productions, had questioned the proposed rule before...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Early last month, a 25-year-old management graduate jumped off the sixth-floor terrace of her Malad housing society building. She had quit her job and was to get married four months later. The 25-year-old is among 14 women — 12 in the 15-29 age group and two in the 30-44 range — who have committed suicide in the city by leaping off highrises till August this year. Seven...

-The Indian Express Gujarat is growing, but its children remain undernourished Even as Gujarat surpasses many Indian states with impressive investments in infrastructure, agriculture, and general economic growth, little is known about how this growth is affecting the state’s social indicators. The recent buzz about the causes of undernutrition in Gujarat raise a number of issues about social and cultural preferences. However, this can be interpreted only in the broader context of...

-The Times of India Whichever way you slice and dice the data, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's statement about causes of malnutrition in the state he has been ruling for over a decade is wrong. In an interview to the Wall Street Journal, Modi had said malnutrition exists in Gujarat because it is "by and large a vegetarian state" and also because it is a middle class state which is "more...

-The Hindu An anthology of independent evaluations of MGNREGA shows that it has provided income security, improved health, narrowed the gender gap and created useful assets   In the midst of the debates that prevail in this country over the feasibility of the world’s largest public works programme, the MGNREGA Sameeksha — an anthology of independent research studies and analysis on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, from 2006-2012 — is...