-The Hindustan Times Mahatma Gandhi urged us, in our moments of doubt, to recall the face of the poorest person we may have seen and ask ourselves whether the step we are contemplating is likely be of any use to him or her. It is in this spirit that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was launched. It is perhaps the most ambitious social security and public works programme...

-The Hindu The latest round of Annual Health Survey (AHS) has shown only marginal improvement in health indicators in the worst performing districts of the country. Bihar continues to have the highest percentage of girls marrying before completing 18. While the percentage during the baseline survey (2008-2010) was 20.2 per cent, it has now come down to 16.5 per cent. In Rajasthan the percentage has come down to 16.3 from 21.9. The...

-The Hindu Activists seek halt to degradation of rivers Karur (Tamil Nadu): Environment activists here are seeking an immediate halt to the degradation due to sand mining in the rivers as mining continues in violation of norms stipulated by the Madras High Court. According to activists, three major violations are obvious. Loading contractors retained by the Public Works Department were breaching the rules governing number of excavators to be deployed in a quarry;...

-The Telegraph Nagpur: The Maharashtra government has given a slew of private companies permission to conduct field trials of genetically modified crops at state agriculture universities' farms, rejecting its dissenting agriculture minister's suggestion for a public debate first. Before this, no Indian state had allowed field trials of GM crops since October last year, when a Supreme Court-appointed expert panel recommended a 10-year moratorium on such trials - though the court has...

-The Business Standard A quick recap of the intensely fractured debate on GM crops and what the pro & anti arguments are. After nearly a decade of opposition, Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is finally expected to rule in favour of the contentious GM or genetically modified food crops in India. The Economic Times reports that this will "pave the way for the government to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court agreeing...