Two hundred families from 40 ‘Black Spot' villages, that were notorious for brewing hooch and selling in Dharmapuri District have been rehabilitated by the Prohibition and Enforcement Wing (PEW), thanks to the efforts of Additional Superintendent of Police P. Saravanan. R. Sudhakar, District Superintendent of Police told The Hindu that the district police identified these villages and conducted social awareness campaigns at regular intervals. As part of this initiative, the PEW wing...

IT WAS a windfall five years ago that taught Panchali Satyavva the power of a lie. It happened one Monday afternoon in Someshwar village of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. It was raining in sheets and she had just placed a bucket under the steady trickle of water from the roof of her hut. Two men were at her door, holding umbrellas and offering her an unsolicited Rs. 5,000. They...

Sharda, a 17-year-old mother, gave birth to her first child in February in a village in Noida, just a few hours' drive outside New Delhi. Though her son was born premature and weak, he received no treatment. In many parts of India, particularly in poor and marginalized communities, a woman is considered impure for a fortnight after giving birth. After labor, Sharda was relegated to a makeshift room outside her...

Sujatha Sundaran, 25, sits on a rickety bench and points to a rubber nursery that was a helipad about a decade ago in Mundakkai colony in the heart of Kerala’s northern district of Kasargod. Local children used to watch with awe as the choppers flew overhead and sprayed the insecticide endosulfan on the cashew groves of the Plantation Corp. of Kerala Ltd, a state government undertaking. She was eight when she...

The farmers who have decided to start bio-farming and other farmers who prefer to adopt local methods to reduce cost of farming should start preparations to make bio-pesticides. Soyabean and other main important crops of Kharif crops are attacked by several types of insects. Since the number of insects is very large, they should be controlled to save the crops. The bio-pesticides prepared to destroy these insects are made mainly...