-The Indian Express For several decades now, the Indian government and a variety of donor agencies have promoted and implemented "livelihoods projects". These projects depend upon women's self-help groups, or SHGs, to raise living standards - particularly of the 25 crore rural poor. In 2011, the Indian government launched the Rs 38,000 crore National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), also known as Ajeevika (reportedly now being merged with the Mahatma Gandhi National...

-The Indian Express Muzaffarnagar: With winter setting in, and the conditions in relief camps fast deteriorating, over 900 displaced families in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts have signed affidavits stating that they will not return to their villages, in return for a compensation of Rs 5 lakh from the state government. "Main aur mere parivar ke sadasya apne gram mein hui hinsatmak ghatnaon se bhayakant hokar gaon va ghar chhodkar aaye hain, tatha...

-The Telegraph Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre's move to implement an ecology panel's report on conservation of the Western Ghats has provoked a call for a 48-hour civil disobedience agitation by the Catholic Church in Kerala, starting Sunday midnight. The Church claims the K. Kasturirangan report, notified on Wednesday, will hit the livelihoods of farmers living in the "high ranges" - foothill areas bordering the forests - and force them to relocate. Green activists deny...

-The Hindustan Times Patna: Panic-stricken people in Meghalaya today rushed to grocery stores and purchased salt at exorbitant prices following wild rumours that the commodity was in short supply. In neighbouring West Bengal, similar rumours sent people in Siliguri, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts rushing to stores and buy salt at Rs100-150 a kg since Thursday night. In Bihar, where it all started, the police arrested 21 persons on charges of hoarding and...

-PTI DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna on Friday said several measures are in the offing to give a boost to medical facilities in the state including construction of seven trauma centres and one mobile ambulance in each district. "A 50-bed trauma centre each will be set up in Guptkashi, Gauchar, Joshimath, Jauljeevi, Kapkot, Bageshwar and Uttarkashi," he said. All the 13 districts in the state will have a mobile medical ambulance equipped...