India - A hotspot of hope

Children at a morning prayer meeting at N.S.D. school near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. The state's literacy rate grew twice as fast as the rise in population during 2001-11. <em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Bihar outperforms UP, Jharkhand and Arunachal in lietracy level

Literacy levels in poorer states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are improving.

Umar Tramboo, Director at Srinagar-based Khyber Group, hopes the gas pipeline will help boost growth in the state <em>Photo: Vivan Mehra/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Kashmir gas pipeline could change the dynamics of the energy-deficient state

A gas pipeline from Gujarat to Jammu & Kashmir is raising the expectations of people in India's northernmost state.

Popat Rao Pawar transformed Hiware Bazar village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district after becoming sarpanch. <em>Photo: Rachit Goswami/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

How a well-run panchayat has changed the fortunes of a village in Maharahstra

How a well-run panchayat has changed the fortunes of a village in Maharashtra.

This century-old tank in Sanwatsar village, Rajasthan, is back in use<em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

ater management: Tarun Bharat Sangh is transforming villages in Rajasthan

Tarun Bharat Sangh, a water management organisation, is transforming villages in Rajasthan.

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

The switch from cylinders to piped gas is happening in many pockets of the country

It has taken a long time, but piped natural gas is slowly replacing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) packed in cylinders as fuel across industrial units and kitchens in several pockets of the country.

Villagers buying food items at a ration shop in Birbhum district of West Bengal. The National Food Security Bill gives people the right to get foodgrains at subsidised prices. Photo: Shekhar Ghosh/www.indiatodayimages.com

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Food Security Bill an important step towards tackling hunger and malnutrition

In a country with a poor track record of implementing government schemes, the Bill's noble intentions will fall flat if there are no systemic corrections - the public distribution system (PDS) and ICDS have been widely exploited by racketeers.

Sumit Dagar used his own savings for the project until he got the Rolex Award. <em>Photo: Aditya Kapoor/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Sumit Dagar, a Delhi-based designer, is developing a Braille smartphone

Delhi-based designer Sumit Dagar is developing a smartphone that can include the blind in the mobile phone revolution.

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Despite tough times, Indian companies have plenty of reason to grow globally

500 Startups's Paul Singh says the start-up community in India today looks the way startups in the US did 15 years ago. <em>Aditya Kapoor/www.indiatodayima ges.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Global seed funds have Indian entrepreneurs on their radar

In the past few years, start-ups have been popping up all around India. Most of them are in the big Indian cities but steadily the wave is sweeping over small cities, business schools and engineering colleges.

Mukti Mishra's Gram Tarang teaches vocational skills to youth in tribal and Naxal hit areas of Orissa. <em>Photo: Aditya Kapoor/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Gram Tarang trains young people from backward and Naxal hit corners of Orissa

Gram Tarang trains young people from backward and Naxal hit corners of Orissa.

Direct seeding being carried out at a farm in Jalandhar district, Punjab<em>Aditya Kapoor/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

'Direct seeding' technology promises to cut water usage and production costs

Growing rice using 'direct seeding' technology promises to cut water usage and production costs.

Central Square Foundation's Ashish Dhawan <em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Philanthropy no longer limited to age-old business house

Philanthropy is no longer limited to age-old business houses. Many new businesses, as also successful professionals, are giving back.

Children at an anganwadi in Doma village, in Maharashtra's Amravati district. Child nutrition levels in the state have improved in the past few years. <em>Photo: Nishikant T Gamre/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

How Maharashtra is tackling child malnutrition

Maharashtra's mission to track and prevent child malnutrition is yielding results.

Reliance Power's 40 MW solar photovoltaic farm, in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, is India's largest solar plant.

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

The future of solar power in India is bright

The proliferation of solar power farms will give the Indian electricity market a jolt in the next five years.

Members of the self-help group Sadhana gathered at one of the member's houses at Laila village in Belthangady taluk, Karnataka <em>Photo: Deepak G. Pawar</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Self-help groups are helping millions come out of poverty

Thousands of self-help groups are helping millions come out of poverty.

Children lap up laptop education at Rohankhi village near Varanasi. Online learning could well be the solution to India's challenges in education. <em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Online learning portals' potential is vast

Online learning portals are a cost-effective way of improving the quality of school education.

A milk cooperative in Kota, Rajasthan. India is the world's largest milk producer and accounts for 17 per cent of global output. <em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Success of dairy cooperatives make India the world's largest milk producer

The success of dairy cooperatives has made India the world's largest milk producer.

'Producer company' EPFPC gives farmers around Erode in Tamil Nadu a better deal.

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

'Producer companies' where farmers are shareholders are making a difference

Erode Precision Farm Producer Co Ltd is a 'producer company' - one of 150 such across the country - which has farmers as shareholders.

The Rs 30-crore Param supercomputer, developed by C-DAC, at Bangalore, provides much-needed computing power to run many applications. <em>Photo: Deepak G . Pawar/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

How C-DAC is helping Indian become a supercomputing power

The Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing is leading efforts to make India a supercomputing power.

Six-year-old Mrigank Bhatnagar, from Father Agnel school, Noida, takes chess as seriously as any other subject. <em>Photo: Shekhar Ghosh/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

NIIT's initiative to introduce chess in school has become increasingly popular

NIIT's initiative to introduce chess in school has become increasingly popular.

Water recycling unit at Maruti Suzuki plant in Gurgaon. <em>Photo: Vivan Mehra/www.indiatodayimages.com</em>

Updated : Jan 15, 2013

Water recycling and reuse is gathering momentum

It is not quite apocalypse yet, but there is less and less of water available to India's fast-expanding cities. The water table in urban India is dropping scarily as water is sucked out from the ground by apartment blocks, and at a bigger scale by industrial consumers.