-Hindustan Times Jhabua: In the small, nondescript villages of Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district, a group of tribals have joined hands to show the way forward to sustainable future by adopting organic farming.   Two years ago, the tribals of Chhaya Paschim village in the district, about 300 kms from the state's capital Bhopal, were inspired to switch to organic farming by Mahesh Sharma, a social worker and local agriculture...

Spectre of drought haunts the nation! More than 40 percent of districts are affected by drought this year. Drought is expected to affect the prospect of crop production and livelihood of agriculturalists. According to an estimate made by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), 283 districts out of total 640 districts are affected by drought. In such districts, rainfall deficiency this year has been in the range of -20 percent to...

-The Times of India LONDON: India is the world's antibiotic popping capital, recording the highest number of such pills consumed annually — 13 billion pills as against 10 billion in China and 7 billion in the US. As a result of such reckless use, deadly strains of life-taking bacteria that are resistant to even the latest generation of antibiotics have been found to be rampant in India. The first State of the World's...

-The Hoot The media coverage of the Census data on religion focused on the timing of its release and the politically controversial aspects. Many deeper and more complex layers were totally ignored. VIKAS KUMAR analyses the coverage in painstaking detail to see why journalists handledthe data so superficially Census data on religion collected in February-March 2011 was belatedly released on August 25, 2015. This analysis of how the media covered the release and...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The Centre has decided to reduce its share of funding in the flagship Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme from 65 per cent to 50 per cent, a move that could trigger strong protest from the states. The revised funding would be in the 50:50 pattern instead of 65:35. The scheme, which seeks universalisation of elementary education, has already seen a steep slash in allocation this fiscal, down from Rs 27,758...