-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that separate toilets for boys and girls as well as drinking water facility were integral to right to education and ordered that all schools, including those run by minority community, must make provision for them. A bench of Justice Dipak MISra and Justice V Gopala Gowda said the May 6 judgment of the 5-judge constitution bench, which had exempted the...

-Live Mint   Building toilets holds the key to reducing India's malnutrition burden Commenting on the Indian elections in his satire show, British humorist John Oliver remarked, "(Narendra) Modi has managed to inspire people with his populist platform including a pledge to put a toilet in every home. That's a bold move, coming out as pro-toilet." Oliver's wisecrack may have deliberately exaggerated Narendra Modi's pitch on toilets but the focus on sanitation has been...

-IPS News   New Delhi: Bhure Lal, a 33-year-old street-food vendor, has been selling his spicy ‘chaat' outside the New Delhi Railway Station for 15 years. But despite a punishing 12-hour work schedule, and a new law to protect hawkers like him, he doesn't take home enough to feed his family. More than half of Lal's weekly income from the ‘chaat', a lip-smacking pot-pourri that is particularly popular with women, is extorted by...

-IANS   A bumper wheat crop this season should have brought smiles on the faces of Punjab's hard-working farmers. But a variety of adverse circumstances, including the weather, has left them dispirited. The bumper crop apart, Punjab farmers have been forced to deal with unseasonal rainfall and thunderstorms in recent days with the harvested crop lying in the open in grain markets and agricultural fields getting wet and moisture content in the grains...

-CivilSocietyOnline.com   Cunoor (Tamil Nadu): The holidays have begun but children arrive at the Denalai Upper Primary School, giggling and whispering excitedly. They have come to proudly flaunt their organic kitchen garden where they grow vegetables and herbs for the school's midday meal. Nestled in the Nilgiris, the school has 38 students. Most of them belong to Denalai, a Baduga village. The Badugas are a tribal community, primarily cultivators, who are known...