-The Times of India PUNE: Child marriages have decreased since the first National Family Health Survey in 1992-93 when 54% of women between 20 and 24 years were married as children to 47%, at present. However, almost 40% of the girls in India are still married before the age of 14, according to a report by Dasra in collaboration with the UNICEF and UNFPA. In Maharashtra, 30-40% of girls were married before they...

-The Indian Express Modi government's potato policy will prove counter-productive. Onions and potatoes take centre-stage again. Having secured a mandate based on people's unhappiness with continuously high and painful food inflation, the government's inability to control prices is, understandably, sending shivers down the BJP's spine. Fulfilling the aspirations of urban voters and winning over a thoroughly exacting Delhi electorate, where re-elections are due, are essential to the BJP's game plan to succeed....

-Down to Earth Rural women in Uttar Pradesh join hands to end gender bias in agriculture and claim joint ownership of land Breaking the stereotype of rural women, 39-year-old Suresho Saini proudly drives a tractor to plough 1.6 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Rahimpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. The plot belongs exclusively to her. "Women working in agricultural fields are a common sight in India; yet when we think...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

-The Pioneer Dantewada: Bio farming has altered the direction and way of 2,000-year-old traditional agricultural practices of farmers residing in villages such as Bhusaras, Hiranaar and Surnaar of Dantewada district of Bastar region. With a unique way of farming, without using hybrid seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, and modern and costly farm implements, the farmers of these villages have produced 4-5 times more crops. Because of the agricultural practice here, the Central Government has declared...