-The Indian Express Bhubaneswar : Aiming to reach the poorest of poor, the Naveen Patnaik government on Tuesday started Palli Sabhas and Gram Sabhas in 48,000 villages under 6,236 gram panchayats through which several developmental projects and schemes such as NREGS, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and old age pension would be executed. The programme termed “Gram Sabha Shashaktikaran Karyakrama” would continue till October 18 and give the grampanchayats a say in selecting the...

-Deccan Herald Farmers in Haryana villages have maintained insect equilibrium by pitting beneficial insects against the harmful. In the great Indian epic, Mahabharata, there is a telling story of the valiant Abhimanyu who died fighting while trying to pierce through a Chakravyuah (seven rings). Mahabharata tells us that Abhimanyu had learnt the art of smashing through the seven layers of the human chain of the Chakravyuah. In lot many ways, I find the...

-The Telegraph The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain why state-run orphanages throw out inmates the day they turn 18 though they may be unemployed and unable to fend for themselves. Acting on a public interest litigation filed by lawyer Sudhanshu S. Choudhari, the court issued the notices on Tuesday to the Union women and child development ministry and its counterparts in all the states and Union territories. It asked the...

-The Business Standard Financial inclusion in Madhya Pradesh helps the Centre's cash transfer projects It may not take a century for villages in India to get banks, and villagers to own accounts. Madhya Pradesh is paving the way for financial inclusion. The state is suddenly full of excitement about what it considers is a feat. Its rural development department has hired publicity agents to spread the word that every villager in the...

-DNA Mumbai has more undernourished children under the age of five than the whole of urban Maharashtra. Experts say malnutrition is prevalent amongthe slum dwellers, migrant labours and the city’s minority communities. A recent report on malnutrition, titled ‘India’s nutrition crisis: A challenge of putting nutrition back in our food’ by Narotam Sekhasaria Foundation, an NGO, reveals that more than half of the country’s upcoming generation— children under four years of age...