-The Business Standard Consumers say they cannot buy branded FMCG items in mobile phones, customers opt for low-end handsets while retaining brand loyalty Last year, Ashok Das, a farmer-cum-fisherman from the small industrial town of Rishra in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, had promised his younger son a branded television. But last year’s bad crop output and this season’s deficient monsoon made him change his plans and finally settle on a...

-The Hindu Literacy has helped people in the State maximise the benefits of the rural employment guarantee scheme Kerala’s achievements have long been celebrated by development economists — high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While...

-The United Nations A United Nations top official today called on academics to get involved in essential research to help reduce rural poverty and assist small-scale farmers as part of the global fight against hunger. “One of the great challenges we have today is to use academic knowledge to understand and improve the life of rural populations throughout the world,” said the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano...

-Deccan Herald Despite many laws, untouchability remains a part of rural India “We were warned against going to the temple; they threatened us with dire consequences if we dare to lodge a complaint with the police,”   said Badlu Lal, a resident of Sahasa village in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh. The warning came not because Lal and his fellowmen did something wrong; their only fault was that, they belong to...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: In a country where women have served on the country's highest Constitutional posts, the fairer sex is being made to live the Taliban way in Aasra village of Baghpat district of UP, barely 50km from the national capital. The village panchayat has put a total ban on women under 40 years from visiting Local Markets, using cellphones and being seen in public without their head covered. Ironically,...