-Down to Earth Shortage of antiretroviral drugs and lack of diagnosis is not new in India, but government does not admit to the crisis The fight against HIV/AIDS in India is becoming tougher by the day as patients continue to face an acute shortage of antiretroviral drugs. This is an alarming situation for a country with the third-highest number of HIV+ people in the world-2.1 million. In 2012, about 140,000 people in...

-The Times of India PATNA: Though Bihar has witnessed a steady decline in neonatal mortality rate (NMR) in recent years, it accounts for second highest total number of neonatal deaths in India. With NMR at 28, the state accounts for 11 per cent neonatal deaths in the country. NMR is defined as death of infants (within one month of birth) per 1,000 live births. Incidentally, every year around 30 lakh live births...

-The Hindu Business Line   Two young women's organic business helps small farmers salvage their soil and livelihood Kolkata schoolmates Avantika Jalan and Rashmi Sarkar run Mana Organics, a social enterprise that helps small farmers improve soil fertility through chemical-free methods and navigate the country's complex food supply chain. Organic produce from its two projects in Tinsukia, Assam, and three villages in Madhya Pradesh are sold in New Delhi and Kolkata. Early days Registered as...

-The Indian Express Oorugonda/ Warangal: Twenty -two kilometres from Warangal, a narrow road from National Highway 202 leads to Oorugonda, a village of around a thousand farmers in Atmakur mandal. An eerie silence hangs around it, with a few middle-aged men sitting under a tree looking up inquisitively at visitors. They are not done grieving for 40-year-old Modanti Krishnamma. Last week, she killed herself after the cotton crop she and her husband...

-Business Standard The committee has suggested an umbrella law to help set up new national and state-level regulators that would also take the powers of the existing pollution control boards The T S R Subramanian committee, constituted about three months ago to review laws related to environment and forest protection, has recommended some big-ticket changes to the rules and legislation. These include a complete overhaul of certain laws, special fast-track dispensation...