-The Telegraph North India is among a small number of regions scattered across the globe vulnerable to severe and multiple impacts of climate change, a study by an international team of researchers has predicted. The study, based on computer simulations of future climate scenarios, suggests that northern India may experience sharp drops in yields of key crops and severe ecosystem changes that may show up as altered landscapes. While earlier studies have explored...

-The Indian Express Shirwani, Pitora, Deoli (Uttarakhand): Over a fortnight after the flash-floods, while many villages remain inaccessible by road, tragic stories are emerging from areas where dirt tracks have been opened up. About seven kilometres from Guptkashi, the six-odd hamlets that comprise the Deoli-Bramhagram panchayat have reported 57 men missing, and the area is fast getting the tag of the "village of widows". For about six months of the year,...

-The Indian Express As the government begins the second phase of rollout of Direct Benefits Transfer in 78 districts from July 1, it would do well to look back at the rather shaky experience of the scheme's implementation in the past six months, and whether it is in fact prepared to bring in more areas under the scheme's ambit. The ambitious plan, that aims at eliminating middlemen and ensuring money reaches beneficiaries...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Basmati rice exports to the US have plunged because many Indian firms are under an import alert by the US authorities, leading to a detailed scrutiny for pesticide residue in every grain being shipped out. This has raised costs, upset schedules and obstructed sales, prompting exporters to seek government intervention. In the first quarter of calendar year 2013, exports were down to 19,583 tonne. With 31 Indian...

-The Hindu Indentured labour may be a forgotten part of our colonial economic history but Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh are still sending ‘Girmitya' to toil in distant lands The descendants of indentured labourers, who migrated from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to erstwhile colonies, recently met at The Hague in the Netherlands to commemorate 140 years of migration - perpetuated through a system popularly known as ‘Girmit.' They gathered from all...