-The Hindu A unique cell phone-based networking system in Chhattisgarh helps Adivasi Gonds share local news and air grievances. Deep in the jungles of Chhattisgarh, a straightforward, earthy man named Naresh Bunkar, field co-ordinator of the Adivasi Santha Manch, picks up his mobile phone and dials +918050068000, a long-distance number in Bangalore. He immediately cuts off and waits. Within seconds, he gets a call from the dialled number, and he hears a...

-The Hindu ‘Houses will also be built for slum-dwellers in Mandya' Mandya (Karnataka): The State government has decided to construct 15 lakh houses under various schemes at a cost of Rs. 20,000 crore, Housing Minister and Mandya district in charge M.H. Ambareesh said. He was speaking after inaugurating the godown of the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Society (PACCS) at Thimmana Hosuru in the taluk on Tuesday. Mr. Ambareesh said the department would also construct...

-Down to Earth Infant deaths in West Bengal’s only super specialty hospital underscrore an urgent need to improve healthcare facilities in rural areas SUPER SPECIALTY B C Roy Children’s Hospital in Kolkata looks like a refugee camp. A sit-out for families inside the complex is roofed with plastic in bright shades of blue, red and green. The sheets protect families from the regular monsoon downpour. The not-so-lucky ones huddle under buildings when...

-The Business Standard The food security Act's provision for millets to every household is a magic bullet to attack malnutrition The food security Act has sought to address a nutritional imbalance in the public distribution system (PDS). The Act, by providing for a kg of millet per person at Rs 1/kg, would be a big step towards filling a wide gap in nutrition caused by the popularisation of cereals at the cost of...

-The Hindu Bihar is the second most backward, and Gujarat is less developed A panel headed by Raghuram Rajan has recommended a new index of backwardness to determine which States need special assistance. The new methodology ranks Odisha as India's most backward State, Bihar, which has been seeking ‘special' status, as the second most backward, and Gujarat as one of the "less developed" States. Goa is India's most developed State. In May this year,...