-News18.com Farmer deaths in Yavatmal, Akola, Amarwati and Nagpur brought the issue of pesticide management to the fore for a short while, but the unsafe use of pesticides continues unabated. Yavatmal (Maharashtra): Almost two years after witnessing more than 40 deaths caused by hazardous pesticide spray, farmers of Yavatmal in Maharashtra still live under the constant THReat of exposure to toxicity. Neither do they have any clue of safety guidelines, nor do they...

-Livemint.com * Access to electricity is associated with significant improvement in women empowerment, finds a new study * Women's bargaining power increases by 7-10 percentage points because of electrification, says the study Mumbai: In the five years of the Narendra Modi government, India has witnessed near-universal electrification, though the quality of power supply remains sub-standard. Addressing the supply challenge as demand for electricity rapidly increases will be key not only for India’s economic growth...

-Scroll.in The BJP nominee in Sultanpur warned Muslims she would know whether they had backed her. If they don’t, she won’t help them if she’s elected to the Lok Sabha. Last week, Maneka Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur constituency, caused a stir when she told Muslim voters that if they did not vote for her, they could not expect her to help them if she won. The...

-Scroll.in It is time for citizens to set an agenda for long-term governance, writes Anirudh Krishna in this excerpt from ‘Re-forming India’. Fixing the cycle of poverty – preventing descents and enabling escapes – is eminently possible. Other middle-income countries have much lower levels of poverty. It requires, however, that things work well in the public realm – that everyone, and not just the few who are assisted currently by social service...

-Frontline.in A closer look at the Congress party’s proposed income transfer scheme. “Two Indias are being created. One of the rich and the other of the poor… we are going to bridge these two Indias. And we are going to make sure that this one India that is formed has opportunity for all…. The idea is that you take the India of opportunity, you grow that India. Then you take some of...