-The Hindu 20-litre mineral water cans to be supplied at Rs.2 to each household Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh): The Cabinet sub-committee on NTR Sujala Sravanthi scheme to provide packaged drinking water to every habitation in Andhra Pradesh has tentatively decided to launch the first phase of the scheme from October. Of 47,190 habitations in the State, about 5,200 villages were identified for supply in the first phase where at present the drinking water supply...

-IANS   PATNA: The central government is planning to turn India's eastern states into an organic farming-hub, Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said here on Monday. "Our priority is to develop Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and eastern Uttar Pradesh into an organic farming hub for development of the region and to provide opportunity to millions of farmers to earn more," Singh told Media Persons. Singh, who hails from Bihar, said organic farming...

-Down to Earth   New minister, Prakash Javadekar, says India will present its case on climate change forcefully at international forums The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (name changed by the new government) will now accept the online applications for environment clearances for the development projects. Prakash Javadekar, the new environment minister, launched the system for online applications for environment clearances after he took charge of the ministry on May...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Disabled citizens face a traumatic time procuring the crucial disability certificate. Among the tasks that fill most Indians with dread is the act of procuring the all-important identity and eligibility documents so dear to the Indian bureaucracy. Imagine the plight of disabled citizens for whom getting a disability certificate that officially recognises their disability and medically ranks it in percentage terms has long been a nightmarish experience. Yet,...

-The Hindustan Times Eight journalists were killed in India in 2013. This was a jump from the five killed in the preceding year, and three in 2011. If there were 74 instances of censorship in 2012, the following year saw 94 such instances - with the internet being the single biggest casualty of the clamp-down. Also, 19 journalists were attacked in the year. These are some of the findings of Free Speech...