-The Hindustan Times Punjab: Having seen my uncle hard at work in a farm and his decision to quit school to till land, I have often felt that popular imagination tends to see farming as an esoteric profession and food production as something that will somehow magically take care of itself. A young man/woman (who has had secondary education) seems to consider agriculture as far too back-breaking and tedious to be taken...

-The Business Standard Chidambaram may announce higher fund allocation for the social sector, with focus on education, food, women and rural masses In his last Budget speech as finance minister in the UPA-II government, P Chidambaram will have a lot to say on Monday but much of it is likely to be high on intent and low on content. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, interim Budget 2014-15 is likely to be...

-Deccan Herald Karnataka: Bellary district is gifted with abundant sunshine. Yet, not much thought has been given to tap solar energy and replace the polluting fossil fuels. But Yallappa D, an agricultural engineer, is making a difference, though in his own humble way. Yallappa's creative mind had been at work since he joined BTech course in Agriculture Engineering at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Raichur five years ago. Driven by a...

-Live Mint The scheme represents Rs.2.3 trillion spent on wasteful rural consumption This week marked the eighth anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's key rural intervention, launched in 200 districts initially in February 2006. To the extent that such populist schemes helped raise wages without raising productivity. They have contributed more to inflation than to rural wealth. Worse, such schemes have...

-Grain.org "We take care of the cow and the cow takes care of us," says Marayal, a farmer in Thalavady, Tamil Nadu. Her two cows produce 6 to 10 litres of milk a day, which she sells for 30-40 cents per litre. Across India, there are millions of backyard dairy farmers like Marayal. Each owning just one or two cows, these farmers supply millions more families and hundreds of thousands of informal...