-The Hindu The foundational work done in the 1960s has made it possible for India to make access to food a legal right. But more needs to be done to sustain the progress. This is one of the most significant years in India's agricultural and national history. At Independence in 1947, we were suffering from acute food shortages that led to the introduction of food rationing. Later, we started depending on imported...

-The Hindu     Kushti is located at the intersection of sports, politics and culture and is deeply embedded in the agrarian economy. If farming tanks, so does Maharashtra's greatest spectator sport. You'd think it was the turnout for Sachin Tendulkar's final test. Anyone might - seeing close to two lakh people showing up five hours before start of play, despite a nagging drizzle. But this is "below normal" for Kundal town, which hosts...

-The Indian Express October is the month of Durga Puja and like in the rest of the country, a warm festive spirit hangs in the air in Odisha. There is a sense of life at its fullest. Memories of Friday the 29th this same month in 1999 temporarily retreat to the background amidst the hope of celebration. Is it surprising that an event 14 years ago should at all be a...

-The Hindu In addition to ailments caused by poverty, salt pan workers across the country suffer from several occupational diseases, including chronic dermatitis, loss of vision and hypothyroidism In Adivasi Colony, a remote hamlet off the road from Vedaranyam to Kodikarai in Tamil Nadu, most of the adults in the 200-odd households work in salt manufacturing. They prepare salt pans manually, irrigate them with saline water which is three times saltier than...

-The Hindu     "Workers may take their families with them when they leave" BHUBANESWAR: The large-scale devastation caused by cyclone Phailin in Odisha's Ganjam district is expected to trigger ‘distress migration' of hordes of affected people to faraway places such as Chennai, Mumbai, Goa, Surat and Ahmedabad. Experts on migration and activists working on the ground warned that the flight of workers was imminent from Ganjam, which traditionally sends half a million migrant labourers...