Established in 1998, Vividha is a woman’s documentation and resource centre. As the women's movement in Rajasthan became more intense and broader based in membership, the need for an information and resource centre became increasingly pressing. Vividha is a collective for critical and creative consultations on women's and other contemporary relevant issues that affect women's lives. It was formed of activists who had been providing assistance with investigations, legal aid,...

-The Hindu   ‘Pandal' method a success in Nellai village TIRUNELVELI (Tamil Nadu): Bitter gourd cultivation in a modified form has sweetened the life of an aged farmer. He used to toil hard in his farm in a rain-shadow region of the district under a scorching sun for a modest income from field crops. The magic wand that transformed the life of K. Pasupathi at Mesiapuram near Melaneelithanallur is the ‘pandal' cultivation programme that...

-The New Indian Express   BHUBANESWAR: With women's participation in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) on a decline in the State, the Odisha Government has asked the district collectors to adopt women-specific plans to reverse the trend. Apart from specific types of work which are favourable to women, facilities at the work sites and if possible, incentives must also be provided to district coordinators, the collectors have been told. In...

-Down to Earth   Reserve Bank of India refuses to bail out three district cooperative banks Kharif sowing season is close at hand, but around 100,000 farmers of Nagpur, Wardha and Buldhana districts in Maharashtra are unlikely to get agricultural loan or hailstorm relief from the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) because the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected banking applications of these banks. Worse, fixed deposits worth Rs 1,716 crore belonging...

-The Indian Express   The hearing into allegations against Madhu Koda will be taken up for hearing on May 26. As it plans to grill two former chief ministers - Ashok Chavan and Madhu Koda - over their alleged involvement in cases relating to paid news, the Election Commission has already confirmed as many as 787 cases of paid news in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Of the 3,100 notices that have been...