-The New Indian Express DHENKANAL: The farmers of the district feel discouraged to grow rabi crops after they bore the brunt of crop damage due to erratic and scanty rainfall during kharif season. Sources said farmers of almost all the blocks are not showing&NBSp; interest to take up cultivation in the rabi season. Considering the plight of the farmers, the district agriculture department has decided to grow paddy in 534 hectares (ha) against...

-The Hindu City fetes Jadav Payeng and Abdul Kareem — men who built forests from scratch. Mumbai: Leaders of nations the world over devote a large part of their time, money and policy framework to the growth of the economy. But if they held their breath for a minute, they would realise it is life-sustaining oxygen that needs their urgent attention. At the recently-concluded Paris climate change conference, Jadav “Molai” Payeng, 52, known...

-The Economic Times NAIROBI: In a major setback to India, the first draft of the WTO's committee on agriculture is silent on the two issues that the country has been pitching for- a permanent solution for food security concerns and a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to protect from sudden surges in imports.&NBSp; The draft has dismissed the SSM issue in a few lines and linked it with the broader context of agricultural...

-The Times of India New Delhi: They may be some of the most backward states in the country, but when it comes to women empowerment these states have topped the charts and are well ahead of their more prosperous counterparts like Gujarat, Punjab, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. One of the parameters to judge women empowerment is by knowing how many are functioning as elected representatives. The government data on elected women...

-The Financial Express The perennial gap between allocation of grain meant for the public distribution system by the Food Corporation of India, the principal procurement agency, and the lifting of such grains The perennial gap between allocation of grain meant for the public distribution system by the Food Corporation of India, the principal procurement agency, and the lifting of such grains by the states has narrowed considerably in recent months, reports Sandip...