-The Telegraph A team of Indian engineers has designed a prototype low-cost solar-heated water desalination unit that can produce about five litres of drinking water each day and is intended for use by rural households. The desalination unit may be used to turn brackish groundwater fit for drinking at any place with abundant solar energy, the team of engineers, who are from the National Institute of Technology in Kurukshetra and an engineering...

-Outlook The government today approved Rs 5,200 crore scheme for strengthening power transmission and distribution network in six North-east states. "The Cabinet today approved North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSlP) for Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland for strengthening of the intra state transmission and distribution system," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here. The scheme has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs 5,111.33 crore including capacity...

-Down to Earth Farmers want drought to be declared; government dilly-dallies According to the second survey carried out by the Revenue Department of Maharashtra, more than 20,000 villages in the state have received less than 50 per cent agricultural yield this year. The state has a total of 43,722 villages. This means that close to half the state is in an agricultural crisis. An earlier survey had put this number at a mere...

-The Hindu Business Line Question use of US dollar to notify subsidies, low-income/resource-poor tag for all farmers India has yet another fight on its hands at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over food subsidies. Many developed nations are now questioning the agriculture subsidies notified by India, charging that the country may have under-stated the actual figures. India's decision to notify the subsidies in US dollars rather than the rupee is particularly under the...

In the midst of national debates over the need for labour laws reforms and the efficacy of MG-NREGA in checking distress migration, a new report brings spotlight on the miserable living and working conditions of unorganized migrant workers from Rajasthan. Titled Their Own Country: A Profile of Labor Migration from Rajasthan, the report prepared jointly by Aajeevika Bureau and UNESCO informs us that 70% of seasonal migrant workers from Rajasthan...