-The Economic Times AHMEDABAD: Insufficient rains during Monsoon has dropped Rabi acreage to a three year low of 29.3 lakh hectare, reveal state government data. The sowing is about 18% lesser than 37.35 lakh hectare in the previous Rabi season. This is second year in succession that winter sowing has declined. The kharif acreage in 2012 had also dropped by 7% to 81.71 lakh hectare because of rains that were about 27%...

-Al Jazeera UK-based charity says the world's 100 richest people earned enough in 2012 to end global poverty four times over. The world's 100 richest people earned enough money last year to end world extreme poverty four times over, according to a new report released by international rights group and charity Oxfam. The $240 billion net income of the world's 100 richest billionaires would have ended poverty four times over, according to the...

-The Hindu Farmers are opting for the real estate option due to poor agricultural conditions Pushed by unsettling agricultural conditions and pulled by lucrative real estate deals, farmers across the famed and fertile Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu are selling their lands to real estate developers. In Amma Chatram, Marudhanallur, Tirunageswarm, Mathur, and in a host of other villages in Thanjavur and adjacent districts, farmlands are being converted to residential plots at...

-The Hindu The Union government should dispel the States’ fears of centralisation if it wants to rescue the idea from total rejection The idea of a national water framework law mooted by the Central government has run into strong opposition from the Chief Ministers of several States. The aim of this article is to clarify the issues involved for the information of the general public. I am obliged to strike a personal note...

-Frontline Farmers protest against the Central clearance for coal bed methane exploration in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, as they fear it will devastate agriculture in Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts.  THE woes of the delta farmers of Tamil Nadu are far from over. While the Cauvery tangle continues unresolved, they fear the proposed multi-crore project for commercial exploration and exploitation of coal bed methane (CBM) in the Mannargudi block of Tiruvarur district will prove...