-The Hindu At present, the subsidy is paid to urea producers and importers, not farmers. Consensus continues to elude the Centre on the politically sensitive reform of the urea sector, where it has accumulated an unpaid subsidy bill of Rs. 40,000 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a meeting of senior Ministers and officials last Tuesday, which discussed if the subsidy could be provided directly to farmers through the direct benefit transfer...

-DNA India doesn't need genetically modified mustard to boost its already robust production When winter comes, I crave for sarson ka saag. As far as I can remember, even when I got my first job, my mother would send me a container full of saag that would last me for a week or so. I could eat saag with every meal, or at least once a day, a habit that I...

-The Times of India BENGALURU: The prestigious Oxford University last week announced that professor Louise Richardson, subject to approval, could go on to become the university's first woman vice-chancellor in its 800-year history. Down in India, things are not too different. Multiple studies reveal the percentage of women vice-chancellors in India is at a shocking 3%, with just 13 universities of the 431 a UGC study surveyed, having women running a university....

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Prices of vegetables and pulses are set to shoot up after unseasonal rain damaged over 50 lakh hectares of standing crops across the country, putting enormous strain on household budgets. Consumers will have to pay more for potatoes, carrots, cabbages, mustard and almost all the pulses over the next few weeks. Rain in northern, central and western parts has caused widespread damage to crops in Punjab,...

-Business Standard Marriages on hold, children being returned from schools over unpaid fees; the rural economy is bearing the brunt of unseasonal rains, a crisis in the sugar cane sector and a fall in prices of farm pro Hapur/ Meerut: In the mid-afternoon, when most farmers are returning home to rest, Rana Ranjit Singh is sweating buckets on his farm in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, searching for vegetables left undamaged after untimely...