-The Hindustan Times Despite constitutional protection, positive discrimination policies and earmarked budgets, India's 104 million tribal people remain among the poorest and most nutritionally deprived social groups. In 2005-06, 54% of tribal children under five years of age were stunted, which is a measure of chronic undernutrition; this is well above the national average of 48%. Studies carried out between 2006 and 2013 in different states reveal that the percentage of...

-The Times of India DEHRUDUN: The rich aroma and distinct taste of the Dehradooni basmati may be a thing of the past as early as the next couple of years. The grain, which made the term 'basmati' synonymous with good quality rice, is being edged out by other hybrid varieties as well as rapid urbanization which has shrunk the fields where it is grown. Confirming that the Dehradooni basmati, known as...

-The Hindu None of our Teacher Education programmes has ever seriously tried to achieve a clear and convincing enough understanding of what one tries to achieve through education. It always has been a rhetoric of larger aims and working for myopically understood parental and market aspirations All curricula are situated in contexts and are simultaneously guided by ideals. Therefore, an understanding of and a balance between the two is essential. We have succeeded...

-The New Indian Express NAGAPATTINAM/KARAIKAL: With just two weeks left for pongal, the farming community along the Nagapattinam and Karaikal coasts was abuzz with preparation for reaping the harvest of six months' hard work. However, the tsunami on December 24, 2004 swallowed their paddy fields whole, bringing with it tonnes of mud and saline water. Ten years on, farmers are now posting twice the yield of their pre-tsunami days, with the...

-The Hindu Business Line Both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have reneged on loan waiver promises. When Messrs Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrasekhar Rao, chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively, promised to waive farm loans, there was no reason to distrust them. The Election Commission clearly directed the politicians not to make any promises that could not be implemented. They thought all the farm loans would be written off once they formed...