-Business Standard Says the actual poverty is much higher than suggested by the multilateral lender, adding there is lack of scientific basis in computing the poverty line The government has contested the World Bank's recently released data that showed only 12.4 per cent of India's population was poor in 2011-12, considering an expenditure cut-off of $1.9 a person a day on purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. It said the actual poverty was...

-The Hindu Study by expert group attributes it to climate change impact TIRUVARUR (Tamil Nadu): A recent study on the climate change and its impact in the Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu reveals a disturbing trend of shrinking paddy coverage, loss of kuruvai as a season, samba crop at the mercy of monsoon and importantly agricultural concerns turning more intense than ever before. Shocked at the findings, agriculture activists have called...

-The New Indian Express The recent socio-economic and caste census (SECC) 2011 data on deprivations is profoundly disquieting. At the global level too, the latest data on economic inequality is equally disconcerting. That 75 per cent of rural households in India earn less than Rs 5,000 per month or around Rs 33 per capita per day and that over 40 per cent are landless and work as manual casual labourers even...

-Tehelka Tired of importing toxic vegetables from Tamil Nadu, Kerala seems to have started a movement in organic vegetable farming It seems vegetables have taken over from water in the ongoing rift between the south Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Having waged a relentless war over the sharing of water from the colonial Mullaperiyar dam for over three decades, the two states have now locked horns over the quality...

-The Hindu Belagavi (Karnataka): At a time when a substantial number of small and marginal farmers are turning bankrupt owing to crop loss, non-remunerative prices for their produce, and inability to cope with the increasing cost of living, among reasons, a young progressive farmer has shown the way towards economic empowerment. Rajiv Malleshappa Rachannavar (34) of Inchal village in Saudatti taluk gave up education after SSLC. He joined his father in running...