Internet might have changed the world in a big way, but about 84 per cent of people in rural India remain unaware of the phenomenon, as poor infrastructure has kept it from reaching the masses, says a report. Further, it found that 38 per cent people in rural areas do not feel the need for the Internet. Lack of infrastructure that has prevented Internet penetration in rural India, has been citied...

Farmers are improving crop yields, using new technologies besides learning video-making skills — thanks to Digital Green which is catalysing a quiet revolution in the little hamlets of India. Delhi-based Digital Green focusses on educating farmers about farming techniques through locally produced videos in which local cultivators are featured. The project works in over 200 villages across Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh with seven NGOs, helping famers improve their...

When noted economist Jean Dreze visited Surguja in Chhattisgarh a decade ago, its utterly non-functional Public Distribution System (PDS) looked like especially “designed to fail.” The National Advisory Committee member has written in a recent article that the ration shop owners illegally sold the grain meant for the poor and “hunger haunted the land.” But that was then. The economist was pleasantly shocked to see the transformation this time. “Ten years...

After successfully contesting a patent dispute with China earlier this year — regarding formulations based on “pudina” (mint) and “kalamegha” (Andrographis) — India last week won another legal battle in Malaysia against the use of “ponni” rice as trademark. Like basmati, ponni is also a speciality rice grown exclusively in southern states and has a niche market abroad. These and other victories concerning patenting of products like neem (Azadirachta indica)...

When the Reddy brothers, accused of illegal mining, demonstrate their grip over a state government, most people will rightly bemoan the role that corruption plays in public life. However, vital as it is to tackle the issue, it is also important to view it in perspective. Most people would not have realised, for instance, that India has been improving on at least one corruption score. Transparency International, the Berlin-based body,...