-The Hindu At least five cases have been reported in recent times from western part of the State Meerut (Uttar Pradesh): When Rahul, a sugarcane farmer in Badaut area of Baghpat district in western U.P., shot himself on the night of September 13, he had a debt of Rs. 12 lakh. Rahul shot himself with his brother's licensed rifle in his house in Dhikana village. Anil Kumar, the Station House Officer of Badaut...

-The Hindu   The figure for households without toilets is 47 per cent for Hindu households as against 31 per cent for Muslims and 16 per cent for Christians and Sikhs, according to NSS data. Extensive new evidence shows that building toilets alone will not eliminate open defecation in India as not everyone who has access to toilet, especially men, believe that it's important to use it. Not having a toilet remains the major...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Bengal government's decision to select insurance companies quoting the lowest premiums for a centrally funded health care scheme has hit private hospitals that are refusing patients citing non-payment of claims by the firms. Senior officials of the health department said thousands of poor patients registered under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana were being refused admission by hospitals and nursing homes across the state every month. The registered families...

-The Hindustan Times To check rising public expenditure, the government's two biggest money-spender schemes - subsidised ration for poor and job guarantee in rural areas - will soon be on the Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) platform. The disbursal of subsidy for cooking gas cylinders will come back on the DBT platform after the previous UPA government decided to put it on the hold just before general elections. The UPA, which started transfer...

-Capital Market 14 Crore Soil Health Cards to be Issued in Three Years; Credit Support of Rs. 8 Lakh Crore to Agriculture During 2014-15 Targeted "Finance to 5 lakh joint farming groups of Bhoomi Heen Kisan through NABARD in the current financial year", said Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Agriculture Minister, while inaugurating the National Rabi Conference. Minister said that, a very large number of landless farmers are unable to provide land title...