-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: The number of missing children is constantly rising. While proper mechanism for their rehabilitation is yet to be a reality, a majority of these kids are trafficked. Areas bordering Nepal and Bangladesh are most prone to human trafficking, say reports. A study on missing and trafficked children from border areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is being carried out by Gram Niyojan Kendra as part of the ‘Missing Children...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government, which had suspended mining of rare earth minerals like garnet, ilmenite and rutile along the Tuticorin coast last month following complaints of large-scale illegal mining, on Tuesday extended the ban to Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Trichy and Madurai districts. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa, in a statement, said a team headed by revenue secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, who had conducted an inquiry into violations in mining...

-The Indian Express Manual scavenging laws will need to be supported by better sanitation policies. The recent passage of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill by Parliament is a welcome, long-overdue step in the right direction. The bill replaces the outdated and rarely implemented 1993 law, which purported to abolish manual scavenging. It has been passed primarily due to a sustained campaign by thousands of former women...

-The Hindu ‘We had to walk 40 to 50 km., in flood, to collect foodgrains' Raipur: While the Chhattisgarh government is touting its food policy as the most successful model of production and distribution of food grains in the country, the people of Abujhmarh - a vast swath of forestland in south-west Chhattisgarh - spent another monsoon without adequate food. Several villagers told The Hindu that the fair price shops, run by Gram...

-The Hindu Geeta Dharmarajan, founder of Katha, which has just completed 25 years of reaching out to the unreached in the National Capital. Scrolling down the students' blog of Katha, the non-profit organisation in the National Capital which runs schools for underprivileged children living in 248 slums, I come across a complaint letter by a child addressed to the Chairman, Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The child wants to bring to his notice...