Past eight years show rising trend It's official. The country has seen over a quarter of a million farmers’ suicides between 1995 and 2010. The National Crime Records Bureau’s latest report on ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ places the number for 2010 at 15,964. That brings the cumulative 16-year total from 1995 — when the NCRB started recording farm suicide data — to 2,56,913, the worst-ever recorded wave of...

The pointlessness of the debate over Indian measures of poverty becomes clear when we look at the country’s human development record. If per capita real incomes have risen so well during the last two decades since reforms were introduced, surely that should mean better lives for most Indians. Forget about catching up with China, there is increasing evidence of India falling behind Bangladesh in terms of key human development indicators...

Despite Gujarat's impressive growth rate, the state trails less developed ones like Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam when it comes to malnutition. A new report places Gujarat at the thirteenth position on a list of states based on hunger. “Among the industrial high per capita income states, Gujarat (69.7 per cent children up to age 5 anaemic and 44.6 per cent malnourished) fares the worst in terms of overall...

Nearly one-fifth of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in the country -- including police chiefs of Delhi, Bihar, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh - have not declared their annual immovable property returns (IPR) for 2010 despite three deadlines given to them by the home ministry. Their action will now put them in the negative list of vigilance clearance for future postings. After the latest deadline of October 10 went by, the ministry...

Harish Hande, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, has brought light to some of the poorest and darkest corners of Karnataka. Priya is a resident of a village just a few kilometers away from Bangalore's international airport. Her home has never had electricity. Till a few months back, she used to prepare for her examinations without electricity. Then, a miracle happened.   And the man who came to her rescue was Harish Hande....