-Bloomberg When farmers in the scorched village of Horti in Western India were struggling to raise money for a canal, they turned to an unlikely source: a crowdfunding website called FuelADream. The farmers had never heard of crowdfunding before, but a local non-profit group suggested the site and helped them write a proposal that exPLAined how a canal would help feed local families. Within weeks, they had raised Rs 300,000 ($4,490) from...

-The Hindu Democracies are not sustained by obedient productive units in so-called knowledge-based economies. But that is precisely what the new National Education Policy envisages “Public policy,” according to Douglas Gomery, “is the making of governmental rules and regulations to benefit not one individual but society as a whole. It asks, what is the best way to conceive and evaluate policies aimed at the public as a whole and its various subgroups?”...

-Livemint.com The agriculture ministry says an area of 12.1 million hectares has been PLAnted with pulses, over 11% more than the five-year average sown under the crop New Delhi: Buoyed by good rains and higher prices, farmers across India have PLAnted a record area under different varieties of pulses, shows data released by the agriculture ministry on Friday. So far, an area of 12.1 million hectares has been PLAnted with pulses, over...

-Hindustan Times Mumbai: The government’s ambitious PLAn to interlink India’s rivers for better distribution of water across the country may need to be tweaked to factor in the effects of climate change. An analysis of weather data for 103 years (1901 to 2004) by researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology in Mumbai and Chennai shows that rainfall has decreased over the years, reducing water stocks even in river basins that have...

-Business Standard The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill was passed by Parliament amid intense debate over how best India can conserve its forests * Why were the Congress, the Left and tribal activists, including some RSS-affiliated bodies, against the Bill in its present shape? They wanted that the money not be spent on traditional forest lands without the consent of tribals and other forest dwellers. * Why did they want so? India has at least 400...