-The Week Manorama Online Broken hearts float down the Bhakra Main Line canal. Broken by the endless struggle with the land, with the weather, with the creditor. Broken by broken promises, broken by the honour they lost, broken enough to kill themselves. And, at the sluice gate at Khanauri village they slow down, looking up with unseeing eyes. And, from the bridge across the canal, the beating hearts they broke look...

-The Hindu Business Line   Perpetual growth is a piece of nonsense. The focus should be on protecting livelihoods through sustainable means Construct a building, demolish it, reconstruct, break it down again, and go on repeating this meaningless exercise. You will have economic growth, as currently measured. But no net gain in employment during the endless cycle of construction and demolition, no net increase in productive capacity, and no appreciable change in poverty...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Can an unmarried man demand a bride from a candidate ahead of Lok Sabha elections? You can in Haryana, a state with the lowest sex ratio in the country - 877 women per 1,000 men. An abnormally large number of unmarried men in Haryana has even led to the creation of informal "randa unions". Their slogan is "Bahu dilao-vote pao" (Get us a bride-get our vote) ahead...

-The Hindustan Times A report commissioned by the ministry of rural development has confirmed the findings of an HT field investigation - published on December 29, 2013 - that delay in payment of wages under MGNREGA was a major contributor to suicides among workers in Maharashtra. The report by the Committee of Experts (CoE) said: "Though the state government has made the claim that it is unfair to link the deaths...

-Outlook The state elections rolled out smoothly, but it's money power which ruled on the ground As we celebrate the smooth working of a massive electoral exercise-simplistically dubbed by many as the semi-final to the greatest show on earth, General Elections 2014-a realisation has dawned that the role of ‘money power' is reaching alarming proportions. Sure, elections are more fool-proof today than in the past, and most (rightly) salute the EC...