-National Herald Four years after the Prime Minister announced the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan with much fanfare, it is apparent that we cannot clean up the rotting trash that has become so common on our streets Four years after the Prime Minister announced the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan with much fanfare, it is apparent that we cannot clean up the rotting trash that has become so common on our streets all over the country?...

-The Hindu The debate on privatising higher education must be founded on the role of such institutions in developing a democratic and inclusive society. Motihari University, Manipur University, Hyderabad Central University, Jawaharlal Nehru University — these names have become shorthand for a set of problems that get framed differently depending on who does the analysis. The list of campuses of public-funded higher education institutions where anger is simmering or has flared up...

-Livemint.com Odisha is a front-runner in women’s land ownership, much of it owing to government policies from the 1980s. But has ownership led to empowerment? Surrounded by sun-drenched paddy fields interspersed with jackfruit and banana trees, Sanakusupadu is a hamlet in Odisha’s tribal-dominated district of Rayagada. Here, almost every married woman owns land. No matter how small the holding, land documents of the 62 households in this village bear the names of the...

-News18.com Dadaji was active until last year when he would make at least one visit to his farm every day. The veteran stopped working when his body would no longer back up his mind and his ideas. Nagpur: He fought for his rights but could never quite get his due. Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade, the inventor of HMT-Sona and ten other popular rice varieties died on Sunday at the Search hospital in Gadchiroli. The...

-The Hindu The court-ordered clean-up in the textile town has managed to mitigate ill-effects of industrial pollution to a large extent. A similar remediation effort, involving the government and stakeholders, is needed in other parts of Tamil Nadu, where groundwater has been so contaminated that farming is not possible anymore On a sunny June morning, two men are spotted fishing close to the Orathupalayam dam in Erode district. A rather ordinary act in...