-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 The absence of state accountability is at the core of issues facing tribal communities The Report of the High Level Committee on Socio-Economic, Health and Educational Status of Tribal Communities of India, under the chairmanship of sociologist Virginius Xaxa, was circulated last week. The 431-page report details the situation of tribal communities: Scheduled Tribes, de-notified tribes and particularly vulnerable tribal communities. Taking on board the findings and demands of social...

-Business Standard Most conflicts arise from government takeover of land, often on behalf of private investors: Report More than 250 conflicts have arisen over land acquisition cases between 2013 and 2014 in 165 of India's 664 districts. This is revealed in a mapping exercise carried out by a Washington-based think tank, Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), along with Delhi-based Society for Promotion of Wasteland Development (SPWD). The land ordinance cleared by the National Democratic...

-The Tribune Call follows traces of uranium in Bathinda and adjoining districts Bathinda: Various non-government organisations (NGOs) have demanded a ban on the use of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes as it contains a high concentration of uranium. It was in 1995 when Researchers of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, discovered the presence of uranium in groundwater. The uranium concentration up to 15 ppb has been declared permissible by WHO but the...

-The Hindu Consent does not matter, says study A majority of parents who get their children married before the legal age do not even seek their consent, and among those who do, the child not consenting does not stop the marriage, new data has shown. In 2011, the Planning Commission selected the G.B. Pant Institute of Studies in Rural Development, Lucknow, for a study on child marriage in India. The 2005-06 National Family...