-The Telegraph New Delhi: Bihar and Jharkhand are the most laggard among states when it comes to implementing midday meals in schools, child services and other social initiatives, reveals a recent study. In all, the study by IIT-Delhi identified Bihar and Jharkhand as the worst performers for five social welfare programmes which also include the public distribution system, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and social security pensions. The study, which covered 10...

-The Hindu Business Line To buck migration, the Barefoot College has turned to mothers and grandmothers to light up villages Satabhaya village, in Kendrapada district of Odisha, is barely 65 km from the district headquarters, but it can be called remote by any yardstick. Located inside the Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary, it remains deprived of basic facilities such as roads and electricity. Abutted by the Bay of Bengal, the village is the only one...

-The Hindu India's small farmers have been struggling for centuries now and they need social and governmental action to change their future Of India's 121 million agricultural holdings, 99 million are with small and marginal farmers, with a land share of just 44 per cent and a farmer population share of 87 per cent. With multiple cropping prevalent, such farmers account for 70 per cent of all vegetables and 52 per cent...

-The United Nations The last 20 years has seen a surge in the number of women employed in senior and middle management positions, according to a new United Nations report, which notes that although all-male company boards are decreasing in number, more must be done to achieve gender parity. The study, released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and entitled Women in Business and Management: Gaining Momentum, covers 80 of the 108...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Indian immigration today stopped a Greenpeace activist from flying to Britain where she intended to tell parliamentarians that a London-registered company's coalmining activities in India were infringing on forest communities' rights. The environmental organisation said its senior campaigner Priya Pillai, who had a valid business visa to visit Britain, was stopped at Delhi airport and denied permission to board her London flight. Her passport was stamped "offloaded". Pillai had...