-The Hindustan Times Polpol Path (Jharkhand): Laldeo Asur passes his days basking in the mellow winter sun, his 70-year-old body now too frail for the rigours of village life. But it is not his advancing age he is too concerned about but the advance of modernity on his tribe, the Asurs. Laldeo knows that after him there will be none to practice a traditional technology for iron smelting, a craft perfected by his...

-Down to Earth It provides farmers with services to improve productivity and find better prices A non-profit based in Telangana, working on agricultural research and development, has launched a low-cost phone cum tablet computer-phablet-to benefit small holder farmers. "GreenPHABLET will allow information to be precisely targeted to individual smallholder farmers, helping them to purchase inputs at a lower price and get a better price for their produce. It will also link them to...

-The Hindu Business Line Bearish price trends in the global market, poor rainfall took toll on farmers in 2014 Farmers in the country were hit by a double whammy in 2014. Even as poor monsoon affected kharif output, lower commodity prices, largely influenced by a bearish trend in the global market, aggravated the agrarian crisis this year. In addition, the uncertainty over the vagaries of nature, largely through frequent unseasonal rains, compounded...

-The Times of India DEHRUDUN: The rich aroma and distinct taste of the Dehradooni basmati may be a thing of the past as early as the next couple of years. The grain, which made the term 'basmati' synonymous with good quality rice, is being edged out by other hybrid varieties as well as rapid urbanization which has shrunk the fields where it is grown. Confirming that the Dehradooni basmati, known as...

-The Indian Express In an article in these columns (‘A fertile mess', IE, December 11), Ashok Gulati says India has landed its fertiliser industry in a mess because of rising subsidies, lagging investment, unbalanced use of fertilisers and diversion of urea for other uses, among other things. He blames it all on administered pricing and subsidy costs, and advocates the increase of urea prices or cash transfer of the fertiliser subsidy...