Statistics are staggeringly in favour of breastfeeding, and surprising as it may be, breastfeeding rates in India are dismal. Krithika Ramalingam digs deeper into the factors at play.

Nearly 20 per cent of the world's blind are in India. Only donation of eyes after death can bring light into the lives of the needy. Ramesh Menon surveys the landscape of eye donations and finds much that still needs to be done.

A new anthology AIDS Sutra has 16 renowned literary figures writing about the AIDS epidemic in India and how different communities across the country are grappling with it. Sumita Thapar has more.

Tamilnadu leads the country in nutritional interventions and yet has alarming levels of hunger in children. Research indicates that is a very likely cause of poor schooling achievement and drop-out rates, reports Krithika Ramalingam.

NGOs have fared better than the government in tackling iron deficiency in poor children. Activists, policy analysts and funders want a convergence of various departments as opposed to boxing nutrition into the health-sector alone. Krithika Ramalingam completes her two-part inquiry.

The child sex ratio continues to follow the worsening trend established over four decades ago. Demographers predict that India's population will remain overly masculine for decades. Kannan Kasturi reports.

Women in Kashmir do not physically encounter violence as much as men do, but their feelings of helplessness and subsequent guilt resulting from the violence around them is taking a toll. Freny Manecksha reports.

With a recent drug sample report confirming the presence of rat poison in medicines administered to Chhattisgarh’s hapless tubectomy victims, it is yet another wake-up call for India to address the threats posed by its $4.25-billion fake drugs market. Tanvi Bhatikar bares some stark facts.

On World Mental Health Day, Pushpa Achanta shares the struggle of some mental illness survivors she met recently and hopes that our nation's Mental Health Program is implemented by the government earnestly.

Much has been said about India’s success in containing the spread of the AIDS epidemic. But can it build on the progress so far and ensure that survivors receive the dignity and social security they need? Pushpa Achanta’s conversations on the eve of World AIDS Day aren’t heartening.

Kathyayini Chamaraj looks at a civil society partnership that is catalysing a government urban poverty alleviation programme.

A recent Supreme Court order has said that the Government shall build a second runway only in full compliance the law.

Subramaniam Vincent profiles eGovernments Foundation's partnership with Karnataka to create better property-tracking systems, and notes the early gains for the state.

Kanchi Kohli

The Karnataka Election Watch Committee collected an enormous amount of data about candidates as the state went into Assembly and Lok Sabha polls late last month. A brief report.

There is no overlap between the administrative jurisdictions of various city agencies, or congruence with political boundaries. The result: the citizen is confused, the local politician is confused, the agency representatives are confused. Ramesh Ramanathan calls for a transformation of this chaotic situation.

School authorities say, and records show, that while enrolment has not been substantially improved as a result of mid-day meal programmes, school attendance has certainly gone up by 10-12%. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement in the management of the scheme. Padmalatha Ravi reports.

No matter which way India's seed policies are heading, the underlying purpose of Malnad's home garden programme as a community conservation initiative for the preservation of genetic diversity, organic agriculture, health and ecologically sensitive livelihoods remains undiluted. Keya Acharya reports from northern Karnataka.

This 58-year-old illiterate farm labourer has developed irrigated farming at a hilltop in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. His hard work, vision and never-say-die attitude have turned the land around and he now advises visiting farmers. Shree Padre reports.

The proposed 1000 MW coal-fired power plant at Chamalapura, Mysore, to be located on agricultural land and within 30 kilometres of the Nagarhole and Bandipur national parks, evoked strong protests last year. Recent announcements indicate that the government is going slow. Nandini Chami has more.

In the name of good governance, decision-making powers in Karnataka are being given to parastatal organizations and non-elected task forces. Kathyayini Chamaraj asks for a re-look at outsourcing government.

A tigress recently attacked and killed a man inside the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka. Malini Shankar digs deeper to find answers for the inevitable question.

Shrikrishna D

Even as Justice Santosh Hegde credibly exposed the Karnataka government for its many scams, senior state politicans and Bangalore's academics worry that nothing will eventually come of it. Sriram Vittalamurthy reports from an October meeting in the city.

Are the numerous benefit schemes really helping anyone get out of poverty, or are they merely petty politics that victimises the poor, asks R Balasubramaniam.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised Bengaluru world class infrastructure on the eve of elections in Karnataka, recently. Subramaniam Vincent exposed the farce in a letter to him.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented the maiden budget of the recently elected Congress government on July 12, but does his populist package promise anything beyond mere intent? Sridhar Pabbisetty elaborates.

As Gram Panchayats in Karnataka go to the polls this year, Madhavi Rajadhyaksha explores the untapped potential of these grassroots institutions and suggests ways in which their capabilities may be leveraged and capacity strengthened.

Teesta Urja’s penchant for getting into trouble and illegalities continues unabated. Soumik Dutta reports.

Shelter Associates uses Geographic Information Systems to study slums, and Maharashtra's municipal councils find new opportunities for civic improvement.

Confronting the history or failed justice for women in rural courts, a legal resource organisation sets up a training and fellowship program for women lawyers in small-town Maharashtra.

Rasika Dhavse reports about success in self-determination and natural resource conservation at a Maharashtra village.

Shahid Burney, a Pune-based editor-journalist recently used the Right to Information law to precipitate the transfer of a number of state police officers whose postings violated Election Commission norms. An India Together interview with Burney.

It needed the final week of an election campaign to force the most minimal attention, if that, towards the real issues people worry about. P Sainath looks at the balance of interests in pre-election Maharashtra.

Much debate over the massive dam projects on the Narmada has been on costs vs benefits as well as poor rehabilitation measures. But one of the original questions activists raised years ago was over the Right to Information. The 'RTI' factor may be finally hitting home, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

The Maharashtra State Cotton Growers’ Marketing Federation was originally setup to procure cotton from growers at reasonable prices and sell it to mills and traders. Instead, with government policies not helping, it has trapped itself and farmers in a vicious cycle of debt and losses, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

A new law could put irrigation beyond the reach of most farmers in Vidharbha. Huge hikes in water charges, penalties against farmers with more than two children, and prison terms and large fines for non-payment, all signal the transfer of agriculture to a few rich farmers, observes P Sainath.

When an unexpectedly high number of people sought work recently under Maharashtra's Employment Guarantee Scheme, a District Collector decided to investigate. Her quest unearthed wide-spread fraud in the implementing agency, but also roused political forces determined to thwart her. Surekha Sule reports.

Amongst a number of other problems, this village in Sangli district, Maharashtra, was ridden with alcoholism and disease for over two decades. Since 2001, that began to change. Kavthepiran made a turnaround, banned alcoholism, and won a national award for 100 per cent sanitation this year. Vinita Deshmukh reports.

In London, Singapore and Shanghai, high one-time car taxes and congestion fees have been used to regulate traffic load. In Mumbai though, despite the congestion and pollution caused by private motorised transport, road taxes and parking fees remain very low. Darryl D'Monte reports.

Biogas plants are not new, but their size, relative unwieldyness and reliance on large quantities of cattle dung have held back their potential attractiveness for the domestic cooking sector. That may change soon, thanks to the ingenuity of Dr Anand Karve. Vinita Deshmukh reports about Karve's new award-winning compact plant.

Technology majors are keen to establish direct contact with potential customers in rural areas, and setting up computer kiosks is an important step in this direction. These first steps are hardly catalytic, but that has not deterred the companies, which are thinking of markets far into the future. Gagandeep Kaur reports.

A audit of the Maharashtra government's post-flood disaster relief expenditure of the last two years has thrown up plenty of instances of misuse of funds. The audit has also gone into the causes of floods turning out to be disasters. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.

A self-styled Remaking of Mumbai Federation (ROMF) has spun out a Rs.60,000 crore plan for redeveloping the city, which includes housing the urban poor in skyscrapers. Experiences show that this does not work for the poor, notwithstanding redevelopment's own merits. Darryl D'Monte scrunitises ROMF's proposal.

Are the pressures which make male farmers commit suicide the same for women farmers as well? Socially, legally, with respect to property rights, and given their family positions, women are placed in situations strikingly different from those of men. Aparna Pallavi reports.

The recent Urban Age conference in Mumbai brought much needed focus on the difficulties plaguing cities around the world. Several speakers observed that a democratic deficit is now evident in many of them, and tackling this is key to building a strong future for urban areas. Darryl D'Monte reports.

A village in rural Chandrapur, Maharashtra, plays match-maker for love-lorn couples marrying out of their castes, at 40 marriages and counting. Jaideep Hardikar finds out that behind the positive force of the village are a group of committed people.

He was a zamindar by birth and a successful lawyer by training. He charmed and transformed generations of youth and propelled them into social and political activism. Baba Amte, who passed away last week, was a rare combination of sensitivity and courage, writes Ravindra R P.

Fertilizer shortages have sparked unrest across large swathes of rural Maharashtra and other States as well. In Washim, every constable and officer is deployed right within the police compound, distributing fertilizer. P Sainath reports.

Up against a political shylock and wiping his tears and looking skywards for some divine intervention, Tukaram Kandalkar, farmer in Amaravati, Vidarbha, tells his lawyer with folded hands: “Do anything, but save me from losing my land.” Jaideep Hardikar reports.