Entrenched gender norms add new dimensions to a problem spiraling out of control, says Lalitha Sridhar.

Shoma A. Chatterji reviews Tamil film Sila Samayangalil, a touching film on AIDS directed by Priyadarshan.

Holding trust brought forth by equality of individuals as a critical foundation for a strong democracy, Shankar Jaganathan discusses the postulates of two recent academic publications that add to the important discourse on the issue of inequality.

This time for public health and hygiene. Ramesh Menon interviews Bindeswar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation.

This IIT Kharagpur professor's vision is to remove the digital divide between the visually impaired and the sighted world. Rasika Dhavse profiles Anupam Basu and his innovation, Sparsha.

Who can object to washing hands regularly to improve hygiene? In Kerala, the World Bank found out that it isn't enough to promote sensible messages; it's also important that the messages do not appear to be based on ulterior motives, like sales for MNC products. Darryl D'Monte reports.

The central government wants to ban the sale of non-iodised salt on grounds of rising iodine deficiency. However, states with notable rise in deficiency are those where a ban has already been in force for the past two decades – the north-eastern states and Uttar Pradesh. P Venu, an Assistant Salt Commissioner in Gujarat, connects the dots.

As the world marks World Menopause Day on 18 October, millions of Indian women over 45 are finding it difficult to smile through it - thanks to the lack of information and misunderstanding among them about this rather rough phase of life. Neeta Lal reports on the Delhi-based Indian Menopause Society.

The Directly Observed Treatment strategy to combat tuberculosis was introduced to ensure that every TB patient completes the full six-month course of treatment. But most poor patients find that its benefits are out of their reach, both economically and physically. Neha Singh reports.

Krithika Ramalingam

Indian participants won a remarkable 387 medals at the Special Olympic Games for sports persons with intellectual disabilities held in Australia in December 2013. Pushpa Achanta urges greater state and institutional support for these neglected sports persons as she brings us their inspiring stories.

The overwhelming mandate won by the BJP under Narendra Modi has led to continuing upward rally in the markets, but can it also inspire similar cheer in the social space? Shankar Jaganathan remains optimistic.

The Gujarat development model has been widely credited with the potential to change India’s future. As the new government completes a month in power, Ramesh Menon stresses the need to seriously question if it is really one that should be replicated in every Indian state.

The recent decision of the Kerala government to phase out sale of liquor and become a dry state has renewed the debate on prohibition as an effective deterrent. Pushpa Achanta examines trends in alcoholism and de-addiction to show why it may be all for nothing.

Did you know a cell phone in a moving car emits significantly greater radiation, half of which could be absorbed by the brain while talking? A renowned epidemiologist from the US warns users of this and other cell-phone related hazards in the course of her recent talks in India. Darryl D’Monte reports.

The Comptroller and Auditor General performance audit of the social welfare schemes for Persons with Disabilities run by the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Delhi, covering the years from 2009 to 2014, which got tabled recently brought forth some shocking facts, writes Himanshu Upadhyaya.

The out-of-pocket health expenditure by the poor is spiraling and the government spending on public health care is reducing. The existing public health programes and insurance schemes are failing; private health care sector is not properly regulated; Shambhu Ghatak finds the health of our nation worrisome.

There are 70 million diabetics in India, 80 percent of them have vision problems about which they are either not aware or lack access to good eye care. Swapna Majumdar reports how NGOs are partnering to reach out to the marginalised and providing them better eye care and prevention.

On G S Gidde Gowda's farm outside Hassan, the theories of conventional farming take a backseat, while he applies a systematic preference for nature's own hand.

The Karnataka state legislature's amendment to the Panchayati Raj law has already attracted severe criticism from civil society. The governor had also expressed his objections. There is now an outpouring of wrath from women panchayat members around the state as protests intensify. Kathyayini Chamaraj reports.

Konkodi Bhat's simple pipe system at his home in Dakshina Kannada allows the family to use rainwater for half the year and lets the excess recharge the open well for usage in the remaining months. His easily replicable technique can successfully reduce groundwater usage in heavy rainfall areas, reports Shree Padre.

This is a bill that the Governor of Karnataka sent back to the state government in 2007 saying that it "evidently seems to undermine the Constitutional mechanism for rural development governance.." The same bill may be back in the state assembly soon, warns Nandana Reddy.

Ankola railway station along the rainy Konkan coast is in a heavy rainfall area yet is suffering from water shortages. Shree Padre reports on half-hearted water harvesting efforts here.

Notwithstanding these hellholes called shelters, the state government has been going gung-ho about its ‘swift action’ to resettle the flood victims in North Karnataka. A visit to one such shed revealed the officials’ heartless rhetoric writes Savita Hiremath.

For the last one year, Parameshwara Hegde Tumbemane hasn’t taken his banana crop to the market. He has instead used it to make sukeli, a delicious dried version and that is getting popular in the Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka. Shrikrishna D has more.

For its work on child rights and participation in governance, Bangalore-based Concerned for Working children has received the big nomination this year. Navya P K has more.

The grant of close to 10000 acres of forest land in Chitradurga district for non-forestry purposes threatens the ecology as well as the means of subsistence of local communities, leading irate villagers to decide to boycott the impending State Assembly elections. Malini Shankar reports.

Karnataka's new chief minister Siddaramaiah is certainly more left-leaning than some of his counterparts in the Congress party at the Centre. Fielding questions on Kannada TV's Suvarna News, he displays a calm demeanour to round off the tough-man image he has cultivated over the years. India Together brings you translated excerpts from the interview.

Hospital-based Collaborative Child Response Units can go a long way in providing immediate medical attention, minimising secondary trauma, and ensuring that children abused sexually get adequate social support. Vinita A Shetty looks at why these CCRUs are so critical for minor victims.

Recent incidents, where sex workers were detained by the police and subsequently forced into a state shelter for beggars, are symptomatic of the continuous harassment faced by them and a basic lack of understanding of their realities. Pushpa Achanta elaborates.

Susan Mani looks at the issues involved in the coming together of government and NGOs to improve service delivery.

Rasika Dhavse profiles the Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).

Offer to build 320,000 houses for slum-dwellers. Deliver only 1146. In two years, only a tiny fraction of the number of houses a Maharashtra government plan called for actually got built. Dilip D'Souza dissects an infamous cross-subsidy fiasco that was born as an election promise.

Many teenagers in Mumbai are spending their evenings on the "untiring toil" of tuitions, trying to learn what their teachers should have been teaching them in junior college but don't. This is a system that unthinkingly takes away these kids' leisure time, says Dilip D'Souza.

Last year saw Maharashtra go to the polls and the incumbent government offer freebies to farmers. But cotton growers in Vidarbha saw their problems only worsen as they entered 2005. None of the political parties seem interested in a real way out, finds Jaideep Hardikar.

The demand from citizens demonstrating in Mumbai that the Marine Drive rapist be handed over to them is yet another illustration of their growing frustration with state institutions. This is a dangerous signal that both the government and the police need to heed, says Kalpana Sharma.

Thousands of cotton farmers in Maharashtra are due money from the state's procurement agency -- the marketing federation -- for the 2004-5 season. Though officials maintain that they have released payments, farmers are not getting money from the banks. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Water-starved Vidharbha has a growing number of water parks and amusement centres. The iron laws of rural life don't apply in the entertainment complexes built right next to the poor. In a region that scarcely receives adequate water to meet people's drinking needs, there is plenty of water for the playgrounds of the rich, finds P Sainath.

Ten months after his father ended his life, Madhav toils from 6 am to 8 pm to herd the cattle of a big farmer for a paltry Rs 20 a day. Education? Forget it. In village after Vidarbha village where farmers have committed suicide, children have eventually dropped out of schools to take up the plough and work like beasts of burden, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

"This building is dangerous. It may collapse at any time. Enter at your own risk." So goes a warning sign at the entrance to a building in Mumbai. Buildings that crumble are an old tradition in this city, with at least one cause being the Rent Control Act. Dilip D'Souza says the pernicious law must go.

"In the time of crisis, when no helping hand is coming forward to rescue us, we have to manage ourselves," says Bhagwat Jadhav, a resident of Bondgavhan village in Vidarbha. His neighour, cotton farmer Ramesh Rathod committed suicide recently. "It could be our turn tomorrow," says a worried Jadhav. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

In what is supposed to be an annual religious and cultural gathering, nothing is more mixed up than the speeches. Talks that start with the fine points of Gondi religion, its practice and ritual, inevitably delve into subjects with deeper socio-political resonance. From interior Maharashtra, Aparna Pallavi reports on the annual Kachhargarh fair.

Suicides by consuming poison contribute to over two-thirds of the total autopsies performed at a sub-district hospital in interior Vidarbha, Maharashtra. "Pesticide could be bought from any Krishi Kendra. But for medicine, they've to walk miles before they could get it," says one health official. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

At least sixteen committees and panels – from the National Farmers Commission led by Professor M S Swaminathan to the Planning Commission's fact-finding-mission led by bureaucrat Adarsh Misra – came this year to Vidarbha, apparently peeved by and concerned over the suicide crisis. Nothing has come of all this yet, notes Jaideep Hardikar.

The scientific establishment remains highly sceptical about organic methods. But Dr Tarak Kate and his colleagues at a Wardha-based NGO have collected data systematically, to negate the charge that this alternative is unscientific and unproven. Darryl D'Monte reports.

Using a deviously devised method, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is claiming that 75 per cent of Vidarbha farmer suicides are not due to indebtedness at all. Meanwhile, the toll has crossed 250 this year and is rising. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Over 400 children from 36 schools in Pune participated in the two-day event on 'Children - Disasters and Sustainable Futures' on 4-5 January this year. They gathered knowledge about disasters and how to best manage in such situations, ensuring minimum loss of life and property. Rasika Dhavse reports.

An appeal in the environment appellate authority that ought to have been a clear case of evidence and cross evidence has instead thrown up something new - a case of a project being upheld despite the objections to it being true. Kanchi Kohli reports.

Shattered by a complete failure of crop this year, and looming debt, the three-acre farmer in Yavatmal, Mahrashtra, followed what tens of other farmers have done in Vidarbha in the past. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

The courts and the police have cracked down on intense noise from motorists' honking in Mumbai's traffic, and the city has recently declared a big chunk of its territory off-limits to road noise. Darryl D'Monte reports.