-Outlook The Supreme Court today asked all the state governments and Union Territories to fully implement legislation for eradicating manual scavenging and take action against violators, while issuing directions for education, employment and Rehabilitation of affected people. A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and justices Ranjan Gogoi and N V Ramana also directed them to take appropriate action for non-implementation as well as violation of the provisions contained in the Prohibition...

-The Hindu But Forest Department estimates damage to 620 hectares Bangalore: Recent satellite imagery reveals that nearly 2,500 hectares of land have been destroyed by forest fires at Bandipur and Nagarahole National Parks since they began over a week ago on March 13. An additional 450 hectares have been ravaged in Bandipur and 70 hectares in Nagarahole in the last three days alone, according to images captured by the Indian Space Research...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The issue of farmers' suicide seems to have resurfaced with a vengeance in Maharashtra following the recent bout of unseasonal showers and hailstorms in the state. While sources working closely with the government have said that around 18 farmers have killed themselves between February 22 and March 18, social activists claim the figure could be between 80 and 100 - more than the average for every...

-India Today Failure of crops and debt are wreaking havoc in the lives of farmers of Madhya Pradesh. In the last two weeks, there has been a sudden spurt in the number of suicides committed by the debt-ridden farmers in Bhopal, Sehore, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Chhattarpur, Bhind, Sagar, Ashok Nagar, Guna and Betul districts. Since March 1, nearly two dozen farmers committed suicide in the state; in the last 72 hours two...

-The Hindu     Even a cursory look at how Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have fared will tell us how the mere formation of a smaller State is no guarantee for better lives for those groups for whom these States have been created Smaller States have been the new political mode of addressing basic issues that were otherwise left unresolved. However, fighting for a new state and reconstructing on a more sustainable democratic content...