-DNA The joint study has found an increase in female-headed households (FHHs) and greater engagement of rural women in agricultural labour. Three days from now, March 8, is the International Women's Day. An important lesson on the relation between women and environment was first taught to us by rural women in the Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh (now uttarakhand) who, in the early 1970s, embraced trees to save them from state-backed...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has raised wages under the rural job guarantee scheme - by the princely sum of one rupee a day in many states. The increase is the lowest in the 11-year history of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and leaves its wage rates in 11 states stuck far below their minimum wages, set by the state governments. The eastern states are the worst hit. As...

-The Hindu Business Line 'Above normal' temperatures forecast across the country Prepare for a scorching summer as the India Meteorological Department has forecast “above normal” temperatures across most of the country. Himachal Pradesh, uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir — or hill-station States popular among tourists wanting to escape the heat — are expected to be particularly hot with predicted temperatures, on average, likely to be well above 1 degree C above their normal...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Promptly addressing complaints against hospitals that were allegedly overcharging for stents, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has issued show-cause notices to Max Hospital, Saket (New Delhi), and Nidaan Hospital, Sonipat (Haryana). While the regulator said that the action is based on the findings of its preliminary investigation, both the hospitals denied the charge and maintained that they have "not overcharged a single patient" for stents. On...

-The Times of India A striking feature of the poll campaign in uttarakhand is that neither of the two major political parties have any concrete strategy for a crisis that's haunting nearly half the state's population. Since 2000, when the state was created, foodgrain production has gone down by 6% and land under cultivation by 11%. In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, with similar mountainous terrain, foodgrain output increased by 29% while the country...