-The Hindu For jobs to grow, consumer demand has to improve consistently. This can only happen with an industrial policy, which India has not had since 1991 There will be no demographic dividend without growth in industrial and service sector jobs. The underlying logic behind a dividend is that as jobs grow, incomes rise and so do savings. Based on higher savings, the investment rate to GDP grows, resulting in faster GDP...

-The Times of India Of the nearly 25,000 person days of work done under the job guarantee scheme (MNREGA) in Kannapuram gram panchayat in district Kannur, 97% was by women. This seems some kind of a record but Kerala has many such villages -91% work done in 201516 under the jobs scheme was by women. More than good implementation it's a result of the dismal employment situation in a state repeatedly ranked...

-Livemint.com With food and water in short supply, farmers in Bundelkhand are leaving cattle to fend for themselves Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh)/New Delhi: Some time in March, Dhan Prasad Anuragi led his pregnant cow Kajal a couple of miles outside his village and abandoned her. The 55-year-old farmer, who lives in Balchaur village of Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh, says he had no choice. He couldn’t afford to feed the cow and his only hope...

-The Hindu Proximity to the nearest well has become crucial in the selection of grooms. HAMIRPUR: A tumbler tucked under her armpit, Bhuri trudged along the dusty broken path to the “Pahadi wali Ma ka Mandir.” The exhaustion on the 48-year-old Kumhar woman’s face was apparent as she approached the hill in the blazing sun. But the hill hosts more than a goddess — the well at its foot is the only natural...

-The New Indian Express MYSURU: Drought showers miseries. Soaring vegetable prices are one of them. With crops drying up, the supply has slackened, increasing the prices by 25-50 percent in the last couple of weeks. An increased demand for salads has also contributed to the rising prices. Tomato which was sold for less than Rs 4 a kg last month now costs Rs 15-20 as the standing crops in parts of Panadavpura, Srirangapatna...