-The Times of India NEW DELHI: It is well known that quality of life greatly varies amongst different states within India. Some states have greater industrial or agricultural output, higher income levels, better educational and health indicators while others are still struggling with backwardness. But what is much less known is that within states too there are wide and astonishing variations. State level averages often hide huge and unconscionable disparity on...

-Grain.org "We take care of the cow and the cow takes care of us," says Marayal, a farmer in Thalavady, Tamil Nadu. Her two cows produce 6 to 10 litres of milk a day, which she sells for 30-40 cents per litre. Across India, there are millions of backyard dairy farmers like Marayal. Each owning just one or two cows, these farmers supply millions more families and hundreds of thousands of informal...

-Deccan Herald Farming Syed Ghani Khan's farm stands unique with a verdant tapestry of 700 paddy varieties and 120 types of mango. This distinct ecosystem is the result of a farmer's constant effort with constructive involvement of his family, writes Anitha Pailoor, against the backdrop of the United Nations declaring 2014 as the year of family farming This is Nazar Bath collected from the tribal people of Maharashtra. They sow this unique...

-The Hindu Scheme will be extended to all taluk hospitals: Minister THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (Kerala): The Planning Commission has recognised the palliative care programme being implemented in the State under Arogyakeralam as one among the best healthcare schemes in the country, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar has said. In a statement here, Mr. Sivakumar said that the palliative care scheme, being implemented in 736 local bodies in the State, would be extended to all taluk hospitals. Thiruvananthapuram...

-Newsclick.in With sixty percent children malnourished in the state, the implementation of the Integrated Child Development Services, the largest scheme to provide nutrition to children in the country, is nothing but a sham. Sitting outside her semi-pucca house in Bilgram block, Kasturi says, "My children get five fistful of panjiri once a month from the Aanganwadi Centre." Thirty-three year-old Kasturi has never, in her parents' village or her in-law's village seen an...