If you decide that 75 per cent of the country does not make news, you're shrinking your potential zone of coverage. And if you decree that only a small section of the other 25 per cent does, you've painted yourself into a corner. P Sainath finds the deluge of trivia in the media decidedly not funny.

Editors and columnists are flattered into believing that because of their proximity to power, they somehow enjoy and exercise power, too. Ramachandra Guha finds the seductions of power starkly apparent in the media's coverage of Pramod Mahajan's passing.

Acknowledgement of the declining utility of military force in a nuclear environment may hold a peace dividend that includes Kashmir says Firdaus Ahmed

The key challenge facing the security apparatus at all levels is to combat the idea that while carrying out their duties the armed forces can act outside the scope of the law, says Firdaus Ahmed.

Voices for peace are plentiful as well as poignant, but even when there is considerable coverage of a conflict, we almost never read of any of these. There is resistance within the media to the idea of 'peace journalism'; opponents believe 'objectivity' would suffer if the media pursued indisputably worthy goals like peace, writes Ammu Joseph.

The army may have delivered on its mandate of ensuring the return of an environment more conducive to law and order since more than a decade, in Kashmir. But the recent spate of suicides and fratricides within are showing that the army is under stress, a slide that the political side can and must prevent, says Firdaus Ahmed.

Retired Army Chief General Shankar Roychowdhury, writing in a popular security magazine, says India's nuclear doctrine must be revised to cover the additional threat of sponsored nuclear terrorism that could, as part of Pakistan's proxy war, prove to be the 'Future Shock'. Firdaus Ahmed analyses the General's views.

The struggle to wrest back interpretations of Islam from the extremists could give security a boost, but more importantly, it could halt the marginalisation and ghettoisation of Muslims in India, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

In light of events in Pathankot, Firdaus Ahmed analyses Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech, given to the military brass last month at the Combined Commanders’ conference aboard the INS Vikramaditya, on the way forward with Pakistan.

With the news increasingly slanted towards the rich, public health takes a back-seat while the concerns of the few are overblown. SARS is the first of many signs in the media of this disparity, says P Sainath.

Only strategic moves arising from paradigm shifts can bring about purposeful movement away from illusions of ‘normalcy’, says Firdaus Ahmed.

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

The stated claims of India and Pakistan are so far apart that the only possible solution is to freeze existing claims and create a human exclusion zone, says Pavan Nair.

Lakshmi K argues that we must integrate mentally disabled children in the mainstream schooling system with modifications, as opposed to segregating them in separate schools.

Venu Govindu reviews Siddharth Dube's Words Like Freedom : Memoirs of an Impoverished Indian Family 1947-1997

Concluding article of the series from Urban Poverty Alleviation Initiatives in India : A General Assessment and a Particular Perspective (2002), a publication of the Ramanathan Foundation.

Despite the intervention of the Supreme Court, the state government is a long way from meeting its commitment to eradicate child hunger and deaths due to malnutrition. As a result, an already insecure condition for millions of children shows no sign of improvement. Rasika Dhavse reports.

The first step towards eradicating poverty is to understand just how many of us are poor, and what that means. Thus far the government's measurement of poverty has simply been a self-serving one, and it's time we adopted a more honest calculation, writes Dilip D'Souza.

If our media can provide regular updates on the stock markets, foreign exchange and bullion rates, weather, pollution, etc., surely they can add a poverty watch? The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty passed on 17 October, and Ammu Joseph scanned the national press from Bangalore.

A unique strength of the NREGS is that citizens have the right to oversee its implementation, by direct scrutiny of its records. Sandeep Pandey provides daily updates on the progress of the social audit of the scheme in UP's Unnao district.

Arvind Sinha's new film travels into streets and bylanes of a Kolkata we do not generally get to see, thus throwing up a collage of the city from a perspective many are not familiar with. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

BPL politics at the central level is skewed, and quotas are fixed for every state, regardless of the actual number of people who need to be protected. Pradeep Baisakh reports on one family's near-total loss.

Even as the state government refuses to accept the cause behind the recent 50 starvation deaths reported by the media, hunger stalks the people of Balangir and other KBK districts in Orissa portending more such tragedies, writes Pradeep Baisakh.

Why is there a huge discrepancy between official calculations of poverty and the alternative figures arrived at by many scholars as well as development agencies, asks Prahlad Shekhawat.

The new vision for financial inclusion In India as unveiled by a committee appointed by the RBI could well be an effective catalyst for transforming the lives of the people, feels Shankar Jaganathan.

In what appears to be a damning indictment of the Five Year Plans, launched in 1951, as well as the economic reforms process that began in 1991, the first ever socio-economic survey has painted a dismal picture of rural India, says Devinder Sharma.

Two weeks into the ban, the question to ask is whether the situation has improved and whether protests in Kashmir have abated. Moazum Mohammad says the answer is no.

While agreeing with General S Padmanabhan who says in his recent book that "politicisation of the military is a self defeating exercise in a democracy," it is difficult to concede that "greed for fish and loaves of office" is how the politician would corrupt the military establishment and wrench it from its apolitical moorings, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

13 Dec: A Reader is a collection of essays on the attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001. The book offers lay-readers a detailed overview of the gaps in the investigation, and the loopholes in the case, particularly against Mohammed Afzal, currently on death row and seeking clemency, writes Bikram Jeet Batra.

A trickle-down approach that sees justice through the lens of economic growth is the basis for many of its arguments, omissions and conclusions. As a result, it is of use mainly to practitioners of the law, who encounter some of the issues raised in detailed ways. Bikram Jeet Batra reviews Judicial Reforms in India: Issues and Aspects.

In the Indian version of suburbanisation, the poor are being forced out of the cities, compelled to pay the price for the creation of the global city. Can we not envisage an inclusive city that caters to the needs of all its citizens, asks Kalpana Sharma.

Pallavi Aiyar's five years in China have produced a good read for those who are intrigued by the enigma of China. Why, for instance, does its authoritarian government enjoy so much legitimacy? Kannan Kasturi reviews Smoke and Mirrors.

The 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his most famous book is an occasion to ask: "how should Indian intellectuals engage with thinkers from outside our shores?", writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

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.

Kris Herbst profiles how David Green has propelled Aurolab into a model corporation that manufactures 'expensive' medical products at rock-bottom prices.

A proactive media that could pressurise policy makers and educate the public for better medicare services. Malvika Karlekar profiles Delhi-based Professor Ranjit Roy Chaudhury's efforts.

Care-providing facilities for disabled children are important social investments. Building and running affordable facilities must a priority for society, says Lakshmi K.

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

Dr.Judith Jaeger, an expert on psychiatric disorders was recently in Chennai. She spoke to Lalitha Sridhar on schizophrenia and the current state of knowledge in the world about the illness.

The WHO has warned that India would likely be hit if a bird-flu pandemic breaks out because India has large numbers of domestic ducks and the country is along major bird migratory routes originating in the East. Abhijit Das notes a few positive elements in India's readiness, but finds that much more is needed to avert disaster.

Tuberculosis has emerged as the greatest danger to India threatening the health of millions. More than 4,500 people die everyday unable to battle the disease. It is not AIDS that will be India's greatest threat, as most of us believe, warns Ramesh Menon.

In the last 20 years, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has emerged as an accelerator to Tuberculosis. It helps TB spread rapidly as the HIV patient's immune system is already weak. HIV's ability to fast forward TB has frightening implications, says Ramesh Menon.

In a number of villages in Sheopur district, Madhya Pradesh, children have been dying since 2006 because of chronic malnutrition, prompting Supreme Court commissioners to call the region one of the world's malnutrition hotspots. Running schools, nutritious food, and health camps are all a rarity here, reports Sachin Jain.

In July, 18 Nobel laureates met with over 500 young scientists from around the world in Germany. India sent 22 researchers. The meeting threw up many questions pertaining to the practice of scientific research in India. Varupi Jain has more.

Within in the next two years, around 10 lakh people will die because of smoking in India alone, says one of the most comprehensive studies on the habit in the country. India is on the threshold of a tobacco-unleashed epidemic, says Ramesh Menon.

The heavy rains of the south-west monsoon are a few weeks away and malaria usually follows, in Assam. The state has 20 per cent of malaria deaths in India, but this time, doctors say they have taken substantive measures. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

They are two simple, rural women, living in rural Andhra Pradesh, in an area known for its arid soils, its resultant lack of food and its poverty. And unbelievable as it may seem, the answer to the healthy skins of Chandramma and Narsamma lies in good nutrition. Keya Acharya has more.

Why is it that swine flu makes major national headlines in India while encephalitis, which has claimed many more lives this year (not to mention malaria, tuberculosis, gastro-enteritis, etc.), does not? Could it be that the A(H1N1) virus is more glamorous? Ammu Joseph analyses the scoops.

Kerala's palliative care movement shows health services can go well beyond the biomedical model of health and be seen as an affirmative act of living with dignity. Freny Manecksha reports.

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.