-PTI NAGPUR: With a spurt in farmer suicides in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region posing a question of survival before their families, a vocational training centre here is trying to help children of such farmers learn technical skills and earn a livelihood. Montfort Integrated Educational Centre (MIEC) was set up with the help of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) about two years back in Patansaongi village of Saoner taluka, about 30 kms from here,...

-The Hindustan Times Nilesh Singit, 43, completed his Master's degree in Literature from Mumbai university in 1993 and a course in information technology soon after, and thought he was ready for the job market. Responses from the initial telephonic interviews too sounded positive. Then he went for the face-to-face rounds. A cerebral palsy survivor, Singit was rejected by one company after another - for four years. Dejected, he decided to turn entrepreneur....

-The Hindu Denying basic amenities to residents of ‘unrecognised' slums is an affront to their dignity; resettling them fails to address their concerns and is unviable financially Since 2005, the Central government has given significant amounts of money to the States to improve conditions for the country's urban poor, first under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and more recently through the slow-moving Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). Unfortunately, very few...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today hinted at allowing private FM and community radio stations to broadcast their own news and current affairs programmes, a privilege so far enjoyed only by the Centre-run All India Radio (AIR). "Only TV channels are allowed to broadcast news. Radio channels have access to every village, nook and corner. We will examine the issue. We will impose some conditions.... (before granting permission)," a bench...

-The United Nations United Nations independent experts today called on Indian authorities to immediately halt the construction of a massive steel plant in the eastern state of Odisha - formerly known as Orissa - which threatens to displace more than 22,000 people Jagatsinghpur District and disrupt the livelihoods of thousands more in the surrounding area. "The construction of a massive steel plant and port in Odisha by multinational steel corporation POSCO must...