-The Hindu Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The government is considering a proposal to exempt stamp duty on agricultural loans issued by commercial banks. Finance Minister K.M. Mani told a meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) here on Monday that a decision on the issue would be taken soon after assessing the financial implications. Pointing to the substantial share of commercial banks in primary sector credit, the last meeting of the SLBC had...

-The Hindu In this interview with The Hindu, AAP leader Yogendra Yadav says that in his dream script, his party will be the natural political hope for the transformative energies he sees in public life Well-known psephologist, social scientist and former university lecturer in political science, Yogendra Yadav, 50, surprised everyone when he joined the Aam Aadmi Party. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu, he spoke about AAP's plans for Lok...

-The Business Standard Does the Indian government's loud voice in international negotiations lead to results? At the recent Word Trade Organisation (WTO) meet in Bali, the Indian government went, with all guns blazing, to defend the rights of the country's Farmers and to secure food security for millions of poor people. It opposed the Agreement on Agriculture, which limits government food procurement to 10 per cent of the value of total...

-Live Mint A photo-feature done by Chitrangada Choudhury (published on 5 April 2013) for Live Mint about some of the women Farmers at the heart of the anti-POSCO protests in Dhinkia was named for a Laadli-UNFPA reporting award last week. Please click the links below to access the story: http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ZX8B0CCM7qpTDYbCTfSpBO/Photo-Essay--Defiant-in-Dhinkia.html Since reporting this feature, forced acquisition by the state, using police deployment, has further intensified in the surrounding villages. Dhinkia's residents still hold...

-The Hindu RAMANATHAPURAM (Tamil Nadu): Claiming that ‘Madurai Malli' which was recently given the coveted Geographical Indication (GI) tag, had its origin in Ramanathapuram, Farmers have urged the district administration to help them secure GI mark also for the plants raised in the district and which produced ‘Madurai Malli.' Farmers from Mandapam region, who raised the issue at a Farmers' grievance meeting, chaired by District Collector K. Nanthakumar here on Friday, said...