-CNN-IBN Kerala: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme had helped women improve their social and economic status, according to a study by a university. The study by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) showed that 97.3% of workers under the scheme are women. Conducted as part of a project on Impact Assessment Study of MGNREG scheme in Alappuzha District, the study was funded by Kerala State Institute of Rural...

-Outlook Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pitched for revamping urban governance while linking it to the 'Digital India' mission and 'Swachh Bharat' campaign. Chairing a meeting on urban development here, he said programmes should be implemented in close consultation and coordination with states, generally based on the PPP model and a special module on urban governance should be a part of the IAS officers` training. "The Prime Minister said revamping urban governance should...

-The New Indian Express IDUKKI: Contamination of water bodies due to excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in the High Range areas has been constantly causing stress for cardamom farmer and farmer scientist Reji Njallani. This made him develop a method which would prevent the flow of hazardous chemicals into rivers and other water bodies. After years of research, he has found a solution to the problem by developing what...

-SciDev.net   * Watershed development for farming is an ancient Indian practice * Irrigation is increasingly being seen as the answer to water scarcity * Good Water management, rather than irrigation, is essential for resilient agriculture Thiruvananthapuram: Watershed development that primarily involves increasing irrigation is not the answer to water scarcity prevalent in Indian agriculture, says a new study. Watershed development (WSD) practices like soil and water conservation and small scale rainwater harvesting have been...

-The Hindu Agroforestry promotes productive cropping environments, prevents deforestation, protects watersheds and enables agricultural land to withstand extreme weather events Growing trees on farms is a triple-win strategy for combating simultaneously the challenges of increasing food production, mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change. It is an instrument of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), catapulted to centre-stage by President Obama's launch of the Global Alliance for CSA at the World Climate Summit on...