Agricultural Debt Wavier and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS-2008), which was introduced by the Union Government in 2008 to provide debt relief to farmers, has backfired in Chickballapur district. Under the belief that the Government would come out with a similar debt wavier/relief scheme in the future, a majority of farmers have stopped repaying fresh agricultural loans they have taken during 2008-09 and 2009-10, subsequent to the implementation of ADWDRS-2008. Thereby, many farmers,...

The village bureaucrat shifted from foot to foot, hands clasped behind his back, beads of sweat forming on his balding head. The eyes of hundreds of wiry village laborers, clad in dusty lungis, were fixed upon him. A group of auditors, themselves villagers, read their findings. A signature had been forged for the delivery of soil to rehabilitate farmland. The soil had never arrived, and about $4,000 was missing. The...

A team of officials, led by Assistant Commissioner Prabhuling Kavalikatti, raided a black stone quarry in Vitla in Bantwal taluk and rescued 39 bonded labourers, including some children, on Wednesday. While some of them are from Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu, others belong to Kanakapura near Bangalore. They were given meagre wages and were not allowed to leave the quarry for six years, according to Mr. Kavalikatti. He described it as...

India wants an eight-point pledge from the US and other developed countries at Cancun before yielding to their demand that developing nations must agree to international consultation and analysis (ICA) for monitoring domestic climate actions. A strategy paper on New Delhi's stand at the conference says that India has agreed, in principle, to the idea of ICA but with specific riders in place. And specifies that the details would be put...

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh will fly out to Cancun tonight, as will his counterparts from their respective countries. The ministers will try to draft a collective action plan to save the world from the debilitating effects of climate change. However, the lack of excitement in the run-up to the meet indicates that a deal is unlikely; quite unlike the expectations preceding 2009’s meeting in Copenhagen organized under the United Nations Framework...