-The Indian Express India needs a national effort to speed up human development. That India was ranked 135 out of 187 countries on UNDP's human development index is perhaps the greatest concern for a nation with global ambition. In order to sustain our growth momentum and translate the gains of growth into wellbeing at a faster pace, India needs to rejig its strategy for accelerated human development. The performance in education and health...

-The Hindu TUTICORIN (Tamil Nadu): A technologically advanced method is rooted in the success of a farmer from Kurukattoor in Alwarthirunagari block. With the adoption of System Rice Intensification (SRI) method, John, a progressive farmer, reaped rich benefits in paddy. With the key intervention from officials of the Department of Agriculture, the farmer reaped 4,000 kg of paddy per acre, against the normal yield of 2,300 kg. On his 10-acre farm land, Mr....

-The Hindu The Planning Commission needed to be returned to its first purposes, to its transparent and audacious planning for an India progressing without old enervations and new injustices to prosperity. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. The 18th century Nursery rhyme, its original probably a riddle, is loved for the one image it invokes - a great fall. The picture of a dumpy egg, of a being...

-The Telegraph The country's third driest June over a hundred years might have prompted the Union government to come up with agriculture contingency plans for around 500 districts but Bihar for one seems blessed in this field. In spite of 32 per cent deficient rainfall across the state in June, the overall sowing of paddy seedlings till July 1 stood at 2,57,660 hectares, substantially higher than the area of 2,31,000 hectares covered...

-The Financial Express To cushion the blow of a delayed monsoon that has hit kharif sowing hard, the agriculture ministry has asked farmers to prepare their land and nurseries for direct sowing of paddy (sans re-planting of saplings) and suggested cultivation of less water-consuming crops such as arhar, urad, pigeon pea, groundnut, maize and soyabean. The National Agromet Advisory Services, a joint initiatives by India Meteorological Department (IMD) and ministry of agriculture,...