-The Hindu Business Line Policy interventions, skill development enhance opportunities for farmers Agriculture, the largest livelihood generating activity, is fast transforming itself from a supply-driven to a demand-demand scenario. The discerning consumer (urban, rural and global) is increasingly demanding better quality, multiple choices, food safety and convenience. Diversification is the key to convene these changing demand patterns with supply, and more importantly, to act as an overall risk mitigant for the producer himself....

-The Hindu SC to hear plea by 3 infants today; Centre keeps mum on the effects A plea by three infants in the Supreme Court for a ban on firecrackers during Deepavali has been strongly objected to in the Supreme Court by various organisations, one of them contending that “crackers are burst on Deepavali to celebrate the victory of good over evil” and a ban will “affect the traditional and customary rights...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: A scientifically validated anti-diabetes herbal drug, named 'BGR-34', was launched by a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lab in Lucknow on Sunday. A combination of natural extracts from plants, the drug is based on Ayurveda and has no side effects. The drug is for management of type-II diabetes mellitus. The drug has been jointly developed by two CSIR laboratories, National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and...

-The Hindu Retail prices of pulses skyrocket; raids unearth 50,000 tonnes. Even as the government intensified its crackdown on hoarders to rein in the prices of pulses in the retail market, importers on Friday urged the government to exempt them from stockholding limits. With their request came the offer that they would supply 100 tonnes of imported dal at Rs.135 per kg every day to hold the price line. Imposing stock limits...

-The Hindu In Bihar, ‘development’ comes laced with caste. For the upper castes, it is Modi’s pitch on investment that matters while for Backward Classes, Nitish’s social welfare agenda makes him a governance icon. The BJP, having no regional match for Nitish, has banked on Modi’s popularity. “Development” is a word that one encounters frequently across poll-bound Bihar, with people across caste lines using it to explain their political preferences. However, this...