Full Coverage: India

31.03.2008 A young village girl from Rajasthan has become a role model for her community by protesting against her own marriage as a child, a tradition generally accepted as norm in rural India. For her act of heroic defiance, Congress Kanwar was given the National Bravery Award on the Indian Republic Day on January 26.

28.03.2008 Bunkar Vikas Sanstha in Chanderi town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has changed the lives of weavers by helping them earn better incomes. Once bound by poverty and exploited by traders, the community now aspires to use media tools to create more livelihood opportunities.

25.03.2008 The governmentÂ’s loan waivers for farmers are more of a populist stunt in the election year and less of seeking solutions to the current agrarian crisis, says journalist P.Sainath. The waivers fail to address moneylender debts and limit beneficiaries by a pre-determined two-hectare mark.

24.03.2008 World food production faces a "massive threat" as mountain glaciers in China and India -- the world's leading producers of wheat and rice -- are melting at an extremely fast, climate-induced rate, reports an environmental research institute.

21.03.2008 Five states in India now want to start their own radio stations. AIR, the national broadcaster, does not highlight region-specific issues, they feel. Critics are however concerned that this move by the states is an invasion of the community radio space.

21.03.2008 Two villages in Maharashtra in western India tell of two different tales of survival. While one village is lush green with abundant water and yielding fields, the other in VidarbhaÂ’s cotton belt has rising debts, shrinking incomes and desperate homes.

20.03.2008 Researchers from India and UK have developed an inexpensive way to measure maternal mortality by using traditional birth attendants to record all live births, stillbirths and deaths of women in two Indian states. Making proper identifications as against estimating have helped avoid missing maternal deaths.

19.03.2008 An assessment of several Coca-Cola bottling operations in India validates community concerns that the company is polluting and causing water shortages in certain areas of the country, writes Amit Srivastava.

19.03.2008 Punarbhava, a new interactive website for the disabled, is a one-stop cyber shop for information, aids, appliances, research and employment. The portal was recently launched at the Indian capital, along with the release of a new screen reader software for the blind.

18.03.2008 The move towards clean energy in India reveals that rhetoric and good intentions must be boosted by government support to have a significant positive effect on the environment, writes Ben Block.

15.03.2008 Punarbhava, a new interactive website for the disabled, is a one-stop cyber shop for information, aids, appliances, research and employment. The portal was recently launched at the Indian capital, along with the release of a new screen reader software for the blind.

12.03.2008 New software by IndiaÂ’s National Informatics Centre (NIC) in Jharkhand offers individual search for pregnant women and newborns at the Anganwadi level. The programme will help the state government track the nutrition status of both mother and child and the immunisation of infants.

12.03.2008 Several hundred Tibetan exiles defied an Indian government ban and pressed ahead on Wednesday with a march protesting Beijing's hosting of this summer's Olympic Games.
From Times of India

11.03.2008 Indian police halted a solidarity march by exiled Tibetans on the grounds that it violated an understanding between the government and the Dalai Lama against 'anti-China' activities on Indian soil.

11.03.2008 MumbaiÂ’s Sangini Women's Co-operative Bank is a beacon of hope for the sex workers of Kamathipura. By providing a monetary buffer to its red-light district clients, this small Indian bank seeks to change the lives of these women for the better by making them less vulnerable to debts.

11.03.2008 It was not easy to convince a Muslim dominant district in underdeveloped Bihar to allow teenage girls to attend classes on reproductive and sexual healthcare at the local madarsa. Azad India Foundation (AIF)Â’s efforts have however earned support even from the local clerics.

10.03.2008 Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment invites participants to an intensive summer course on the policies, politics and practices of environmental management in India. Held from June 4 to August 2, 2008, the course will attempt to address the complexities underlying the environment-development debate.

09.03.2008 There are times when Pankaj Kumar Bhattacharya, like his primary school pupils, has questions of his own. Now he can get the answers.

05.03.2008 Teachers working in remote villages of West Bengal will soon be provided with critical academic aid through a first-of-its-kind phone based service in India. Using an innovative mix of telephony and internet, LifeLines Education seeks to answer queries on pedagogy, classroom management and administration, while linking teachers with a network of educational experts.