-DNA   Muzaffarpur (Bihar): Some 30 kms away from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, in Moshari block, peasants sit around a common hookah at a village chaupal after an exhausting day. They sign Maithili folk songs and relating stories of Raj Kishore and Tasleemudin, legendary Naxalite leaders who took on local landlords in the 1960s. This region, along with Naxalbari in neighbouring West Bengal, was the centre of bloody clashes, forcing socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan...

-The New Indian Express   Bangalore: Water contamination is causing a major headache to officials busy tackling the acute water scarcity in most parts of the state. Many sources supplying drinking water to the affected areas have become contaminated with harmful substances such as fluoride, arsenic, iron etc. Drinking water sources in 3,207 of the 59,753 habitats in the state have been contaminated as on March 31, 2014, according to information obtained from the...

-DNA   Farming is considered a patriotic enterprise, and nearly half of India's labour force is engaged in agriculture and allied activities. Almost everyone believes that in the election season, political parties should pledge to aid this patriotic endeavor to feed the nation. But, farming is a risky profession, and agricultural products form only 14% of India's total produce. After the economic reforms, the growth in agricultural GDP has averaged only 3.4%. Even...

-The Hindu   Miners violate rules; panchayat witnesses 24-hour mining Thrissur (Kerala): Rampant clay mining has led to the destruction of paddy fields and acute shortage of water at Nenmanikkara panchayat, near here. The local farmers point out that the panchayat used to have more than 600 hectares of paddy field. According to the development report of the panchayat, 97.6 per cent of paddy fields have been destroyed. The clay mining has turned...

-Frontline   A Delhi High Court verdict says the State government is bound to ensure that poor and vulnerable sections of society have access to treatment for rare and chronic diseases. SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Mohammed Ahmed Khan looked on helplessly as his father, Sirajuddin, narrated the sordid tale of the loss of four of his children to Gaucher's disease, a rare genetic disease that requires lifelong, exorbitantly expensive enzyme replacement therapy. Sirajuddin, a rickshaw...