-Down to Earth   Most severely and consistently excluded groups are women, Adivasis, Muslims and the disabled, report confirms A recent report by a Delhi NGO undermines government claims on reaching welfare schemes to the needy and disadvantaged sections of society. The report, titled The India Exclusion Report 2013-14, says the government has failed miserably in providing equal access to public goods to the most disadvantaged groups. The report, prepared by Delhi-based Centre for...

-IANS   Bangalore: A study by an international team using satellite and ground-based instruments has shown that crop residue burning, a common practice in northern India and particularly in Punjab, is contributing to atmospheric pollution over the entire Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) that may have climate and health implications. "Every year, during the post-monsoon season (October-November), extensive agricultural crop residue burning takes place mainly in the northwestern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, and western...

-The Business Standard   Rajkot (Gujarat): The Gujarat government has received lukewarm response from farmers for the mobile applications launched by it for providing them information related to agriculture. Hardly one percent farmers are using mobile applications in the state for receiving information from the government, according to state government and industry officials. The Gujarat government has so far launched around 20 mobile applications for passing on relevant agri-related information to farmers. Some...

-PSainath.org   At 73, P.V. Chinnathambi runs one of the loneliest libraries anywhere. In the middle of the forested wilderness of Kerala's Idukki district, the library's 160-books - all classics - are regularly borrowed, read, and returned by Poor, Muthavan adivasis Please click here to read more. ...

-The Hindu   The official sanitation policy has been uniquely focussed on building toilets. But the connection between good health and using toilets has not yet been made When the road in front of his house is finally laid, in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, Ramesh Kumar hopes he will get permission to set up a small shop in a corner of his compound. Another corner will have a temple, as his father wants. To...