-The Hindu   Neha Khator narrates the story of an NGO that transformed a backward village into a bustling city, with funds, of course, but also by fostering a sense of duty in its residents. Vimla Kanwar, a 70-year-old widow, had a problem. After her husband, a handloom yarn spinner, died of cancer, the officials at the Khadi Gram Udyog took away his charkha. Concerned about finding a means of survival at her...

-The Telegraph The Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh has jolted the security establishment, which was till recently celebrating recent successes against the rebels. Union home ministry sources said the massacre would go a long way in repairing the shattered morale of Maoist cadres, who were on the defensive following a coordinated blitzkrieg by the central and state police forces. Sustained security operations in the past three years had reduced the 39-member central committee of...

-Stanford Social Innovation Review Looked at from the perspective of the political right, and the left, and the center, the proposed law making CSR mandatory is a really bad idea. Companies all over the world are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are responsible citizens, with about 70 percent of large companies in Europe and the Americas reporting on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Despite this, the very concept...

-Frontline The Central government's proposal to hand over the supply of supplementary nutrition to NGOs in the name of "community participation" is surely an invitation for private profiteering on the back of this supposedly public scheme. ENSURING safe and healthy conditions for the reproduction of the population is obviously the most fundamental requirement of any society. So the progress of a society can be determined (and indeed is routinely judged) by the...

-The Times of India LONDON: Iodine deficiency during pregnancy, something rampant among Indian women, adversely affects the child's mental development. A UK study published in medical journal The Lancet on Thursday has shown that iodine - which is consumed mainly via dairy products and seafood - is essential for producing hormones made by the thyroid gland, which have a direct impact on fetal brain development. A recent Indian health ministry survey conducted in...