-Down to Earth It provides farmers with services to improve productivity and find better prices A non-profit based in Telangana, working on agricultural research and development, has launched a low-cost phone cum tablet computer-phablet-to benefit small holder farmers. "GreenPHABLET will allow information to be precisely targeted to individual smallholder farmers, helping them to purchase inputs at a lower price and get a better price for their produce. It will also link them to...

-Business Standard Most conflicts arise from government takeover of land, often on behalf of private investors: Report More than 250 conflicts have arisen over land acquisition cases between 2013 and 2014 in 165 of India's 664 districts. This is revealed in a mapping exercise carried out by a Washington-based think tank, Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), along with Delhi-based Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development (SPWD). The land ordinance cleared by the National Democratic...

-Vikalp Most countries in the world spend a sizable amount of public fund on health, though delivery of health services is organised through a mix of government and private providers. The countries recording high level of public spending in health have secured better health outcomes compared to the countries with low spending, barring few exceptions like the US, where high public spending co-exists with high exclusion. Some however have also...

-The Hindu A statistically faulty focus on rape has led to a misdiagnosis and a worsening of India's real problem: women's autonomy The recently reported rape of a young woman in a taxi in Delhi has brought back attention to India's sexual violence problem. The spotlight has been on the country since the horrific rape of a young woman aboard a bus in December 2012, an attack that killed her. The beginning...

-PTI Global Financial Integrity puts the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country at Rs 28 lakh crore in 10 years Washington: As India continues its pursuit of suspected black money stashed abroad, an international think-tank has ranked the country third globally with an estimated USD 94.76 billion (nearly Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth outflows in 2012. As a result, the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country over a...