-The Times of India KOLHAPUR (Maharashtra): The state general administration department has issued a notice asking all government sections not to entertain applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act if they do not constitute "public interest". The order, coming from an administration under President's Rule, seeks to prevent use of the information to settle personal disputes and is being seen as a relief, especially by government officers who were often targeted...

-The Hindu Ignoring hunger and malnutrition will have significant costs to any country's development. Nutrition improvement has both intrinsic and instrumental value One of the disappointments in the post-reform period in India has been the slow progress in the reduction of malnutrition, especially with reference to the underweight among children. In fact, the rate of change in the percentage of underweight children has been negligible in the period 1998-99 to 2005-06; the...

-The Hindu Panchayat takes uncultivated land on lease for farming ALAPPUZHA (Kerala): Any visitor to Thazhakara grama panchayat in Mavelikara taluk is bound to be welcomed by vast expanses of paddy fields. The local body has scripted a success story by reviving paddy cultivation and vegetable farming on a land that remained barren for around three decades. The panchayat achieved the turnaround by identifying uncultivated land and convincing private landowners to provide such...

-The Third Pole Cities and villages in India will soon run out of potable water if current trends continue, warns senior water official India's groundwater tables are plunging at an alarming rate with reserves in some states dwindling to critical levels, according to the latest report from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) - the apex body under the Ministry of Water Resources. Over 16% of the country's groundwater resources are ‘over-exploited' -...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Landlocked Punjab has started feeding shrimps to coastal Dubai! A progressive farmer has started using waterlogged wastelands in the state as fish farms, unlocking the possibility of more such farms coming up in select pockets of the state. In fact, the first consignment of two tonnes of shrimps from a trial farm in Fazilka was sent to Dubai with the help of the Gujarati farmer only last...