With Mittal Steel moving into India, it becomes even more important to look at the firm's poor environmental and social track record around the world in its rise to become the world's largest steel maker. There are crucial lessons for the governments of Orissa and Jharkhand, but are they listening, asks Sunita Dubey.

As in many other struggles around the country, in Kalinganagar too there are fractures within the opposition to the proposed industrial plants, and families are torn apart by bleak choices. Freny Manecksha reports.

The struggle to feed themselves and their families round the year drives millions of farmers in India to desperate measures. Abhijit Mohanty’s story shows how sustainable agriculture has helped transform the lives of farmers in Odisha’s backward Kalahandi district.

The women of Gunduribadi, a small tribal village in Odisha, go out daily for thengapalli or forest patrolling around their village. They are also members of their Forest Protection Committee which decides how to manage the forest and its resources. Sonali Pattnaik spent a day with these sentinels of Gunduribadi to find out how this movement has restored the forest and empowered the villagers.

In spite of the development and welfare plans and programs implemented since Independence, the tribals of our nation remain the most marginalised group. There are many valid reasons for this as Abhijit Mohanty finds out when he looks into the existing Tribal Sub Plan funds and what's happening with it.

On June 29, about 50 press conferences were held across the globe to publicise the names of the 1,000 women from 153 countries jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. The Nobel Committee in Oslo had received the nominations in January 2005. Kamla Bhasin narrates the story.

Tibet lies at the heart of Indo-Chinese disputes. To focus on Arunachal or Tawang alone is not only to miss the wood for the trees, but also to play in to the hands of China. India must bring Tibet back into focus, writes Brahma Chellaney.

As the world mourns the loss of one of history's most remarkable leaders, Devaki Jain reminisces the occasions when she met Nelson Mandela and dwells on the qualities that set him apart.

While any act of self-killing is tragic and worthy of attention, one cannot help wonder why the proportion of male suicides in the country steadily rises with age. Take a look at the stark and sustained picture revealed by the data published by the NCRB.

Days before Telangana goes to polls, Venugopalrao Nellutla examines the lack of exuberance and the dilemmas among people in the region, even as they look ahead to statehood and their own government in weeks from now.

Medical services are today driven by needs and definitions out of sync with the realities of the masses. In conversation with Pamela Philipose, health activist Imrana Qadeer argues why health should be seen through the prism of the various structural components of society - caste, class and gender.

Dilip D'Souza on his first-hand observations of low election turnout in Jammu and Kashmir.

Shelter kits developed by Oxfam are being distributed in quake-hit villages in Uri and Tangdhar, but many hurdles have to be overcome to provide these to everyone before the weather turns bitterly cold. Kanchi Kohli finds hopeful but worried villagers and relief workers fighting the odds and the elements.

In Kashmir, it seems the only person the Centre is listening to is Omar Abdullah, the man against whom the entire population, including his own party, his bureaucracy, and his police is up in arms, writes Madhu Purnima Kishwar.

The Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian & Kargil Trade reconstructs the vibrant past of trade along the historic Silk Route and preserves its rich legacy. Freny Manecksha visits the museum and finds there's more to Kargil than Indo-Pak conflict.

The RTI-on-Wheels, an initiative of Gujarat-based organisation Janpath and the Association for India's Development, has inspired the people of J&K to press for their right to information and to a government that works for them. L S Aravinda reports.

With training from the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurs, a new generation of jewellery traders is making its mark in Assam, focusing on traditional designs. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

A livelihoods programme for villages on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park makes big gains in the fight against poaching, and also recognises the importance of locals as stakeholders in wildlife conservation. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

Despite years of conflicts and lakhs of people being housed in relief camps, the Assam government is yet to develop a practical policy of responding to the recurring crises. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

Children with disabilities are routinely edged out of an education system that's hesitant to acknowledge diversity. Inclusion may be the key word in India's current education policy, but there is a world of difference between the law and its implementation. Deepa A reports.

A first-of-its-kind women-only BPO started by 'Harva' in a Haryana village is all set to harness the rural talent while changing the rigid mindset of the people, transforming rural economy, writes Hemlata Aithani.

The Supreme Court and the overwhelming majority of academics and NGOs believe in it. A growing number of poor parents have emerged as a pressure group for this programme, report Kalpana Parikh & Summiya Yasmeen.

The numbers of those seeking active employment is likely to reach 692 million by 2007. A towering tide looms ahead, reports Safia Sircar.

Shouldn't “fixing the delivery system” itself be one of the central planks of second-generation reforms, asks Ramesh Ramanathan.

The senior citizens of Chingrajpara slum in Bilaspur are unable to benefit from the largesse of the many government departments in New Delhi. In this fifth article in our SLUM DIARIES series, Ashima Sood notes that they go begging in the alleys of the slum, depending instead on their more reliable humble neighbours.

In 11 of the poorest districts in the country, a citizens' audit of development, modeled on an earlier study of education, helps residents themselves easily identify how their areas fare on key measures. Rukmini Banerjee and Shanti Jagannathan introduce PAHELI, the People's Audit of Health, Education and Livelihoods.

A few innovative steps, taken urgently, can greatly bridge the gap in access to electricity for poor consumers. Structural reform will take years, and given its complexity and poor record so far, cannot be the only pre-occupation, write Sreekumar N and Shantanu Dixit.

A number of families residing in the char areas of Assam have apparently staved off misfortune by taking up sugarcane cultivation, but it may require more than just that to stem the trend of migration and improve living conditions in the region. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

Total Sanitation Campaign, MGNREGS and other government schemes are unheard of among villagers at Dinesh Nagar, Assam who live with a perennial lack of food, pure water, and health amenities. Nilotpal Bhattacharjee wonders if they will ever find deliverance from despair.

With the expiry of the MDGs which guided global development till 2015, the international community is now negotiating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period 2016-2030. Prahlad Shekhawat summarises the ensuing debates and explores a way forward.

In brothels of West Bengal, there is high awareness of the risk to HIV. Women are not taking any chances. Response to the newly introduced female condom is picking up. Sumita Thapar reports.

Severe shortages of power and water are predicted for the coming months in much of the North. Himanshu Thakkar looks beyond the 'natural phenomena' that are blamed.

The private sector Baspa II hydel power project went live over two and half years ago and has been selling power to the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board. Lack of regulatory approvals and determination of final wholesale tariff has not deterred the company from raising money in capital markets. Himanshu Upadhyaya finds out more.

Its demand for water is ever-growing, and its usage wasteful. Using its political and economic power, however, Delhi is quenching its thirst by extracting it from places near and far. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports on the proposed Renuka Dam.

The BioCarbon Fund promises to plant trees across a swathe of Himachal Pradesh, amidst questions about the environmental value and fairness of the program. Sudhirendar Sharma reports.

The Kaoboys of R&AW, which records the role of India's external intelligence agency over three decades, is replete with material that should force a re-assessment of intelligence operations by policy-makers and political leaders, says K S Subramanian.

The bi-monthly book review journal Biblio celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its founder editors, Darryl D’Monte is one of its founder editors, were invited to the Chandigarh Literature Festival, which was held earlier this month. D’Monte talks about an interesting book discussion he chaired at the festival.

This Haryana based non-profit organization is working towards building a disabled friendly society through integration and rehabilitation, says Indra Chopra

The greatest of good intentions have a way of reminding me of the very things I wish not to remember, says Ashwin Mahesh.

Marien Mathew meets a confident and yet vulnerable Padma Shri Malathi Holla, a very special athlete.

What plans and promises on 'health for all' have the NDA and the Congress offered to the electorate this election cycle? Abhijit Das takes a closer look.

Are tax-payer funded programmes for the empowerment of the disabled working? Until very recently, New Delhi has not even had reliable data to plan its programmes. Himanshu Upadhyaya digs into the 2004 Comptroller and Auditor General report.

N P Chekkutty reports on several marked trends in the latest Census data.

Medicine prices nationwide are likely to go up soon, including at public hospitals and dispensaries. Domestic manufacturers will withdraw critical but cheaper medicines as India gets ready to fulfill WTO obligations. Devinder Sharma argues that this is the beginning of a scientific apartheid.

The Indian experience in institutionalised mental help has not been civilising. The National Human Rights Commission had issued a condemnation of the state of mental hospitals as early as six years ago. Parul Sharma notes that misguided private counselling and the lack of richer case law have compounded victims' problems.

In India, we have known the magic of turmeric all along. An Indian kitchen without a can of turmeric is rare. The world today is discovering this member of the ginger family. Scientists worldwide as well as in India are validating the medicinal properties of the root, reports Ramesh Menon.

India has recently declared that it has achieved the tag of 'elimination' of leprosy as the number of cases is now just around one per 10,000 people. Still, a major challenge is to reach medicine to remote areas and tribal pockets which still battle with leprosy, and integrating the cured into society, says Ramesh Menon.

38 babies died in one hospital in Thiruvananthapuram over the past four months, shocking a state which boasts of the lowest infant mortality rate in the country. The much discussed and extolled Kerala model of health development is ailing, reports P N Venugopal.

Krithika Ramalingam

The better education and health outcome indicators in the southern states compared to the north, has been acknowledged for a long time. And yet to see it with one’s own eyes really drives home the poin,t say Reetika Khera.