-The Hindu Business Line One man with a backpack is determined to introduce the children of Kalagachia, West Bengal, to the joys of reading The conductor calls out “Mallikpur brickfield!” as the bus grinds to a halt. Across the road a tall chimney is visible — part of the brick-making outfit that this place is named after. A narrow sand-and-gravel path snakes from the road, through paddy fields, towards a village. The...

-The Indian Express Every crisis produces its fall guy. This time, it is sugarcane that’s bearing the brunt of the blame for drought, especially in Maharashtra’s worst-affected Marathwada region. Sugarcane, no doubt, requires 2,100-2,200 mm of water, more than the 1,400 mm or so for paddy, 900 mm for cotton, 600 mm for jowar (sorghum) and arhar (pigeon-pea), 550 mm for wheat, and under 500 mm for soyabean and chana (chickpea). But then,...

-CNN-IBN Unable to bear the famine at least 18 lakh people have migrated out of Bundelkhand to Delhi alone during the past one year, sale of train tickets from the region suggest. Figures available from ten major railway stations in drought-hit Bundelkhand showed, that between April 2015 and March 2016, nearly 18 lakh people -- which is about 10% of the population -- bought tickets for unreserved compartments in trains going to...

-The Hindu Business Line The new scheme offers lower premium, more risk cover and hassle-free settlement Crop insurance schemes have not been a hit with Indian farmers in the past. High premia, limited coverage, complicated ways of assessing losses and delayed payment of compensation have kept farmers away from them. Given the high risk of crop damage in India, with significant loss in food grain production in 18 of the last 54 years...

-The Indian Express India does need these toilets badly. Over half a billion people practice open defecation, the highest number in the world. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) has a target of 12 crore toilets by October 2019. That makes for 2,739 toilets a day, almost two toilets every second! Work on the toilets is on track. In fact, reports show that the targets are being surpassed. In 2014-15, the very first...