-The Hindustan Times For fiscal prudence and better outcome of public expenditure, the Narendra Modi government is likely to downsize some of the social sector schemes, including the rural job guarantee programme, the biggest grosser of the central funds. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had allocated about Rs. 33,351 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) in his budget this July but many believe that the huge expenditure was not...

-The Hindu Business Line Beefing up input delivery, expanding irrigation facilities & infusing technology are the key India needs rapid economic growth to lift people out of poverty and meet the basic needs of a growing population. It is well recognised that for growth to be inclusive, it must create adequate livelihood opportunities and add to decent employment commensurate with the expectations of a growing workforce. Massive growth in information and communication technologies...

-The Times of India Kanpur: Scientists of Chandra Shekhar Azad (CSA) Agricultural University have come up with insect monitoring traps that can control the pest population in a farm. Pests damage crops and thereby affect Productivity of crops, including pulses, vegetables and fruits. The trap was displayed at the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Mela which began in the university on Wednesday. Insect traps, use pheromone lures (attractants) and other trap kits for...

-The Economic Times LONDON: Large areas of rich irrigated and fertile land in the Indo-Gangetic basin is being lost daily to salt damage, confirms the UN. Crop yield losses on salt-affected lands for wheat, rice, sugarcane and cotton grown on salt-affected lands could be 40%, 45%, 48%, and 63%, respectively. Employment losses could be 50-80 man-days per hectare, with an estimate 20-40% increase in human health problems and 15-50% increase in animal health...

-Deccan Chronicle Hyderabad: Temperatures will go up and the Productivity of farmlands will come down in future. This could lead to a food crisis, warned the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) fifth assessment report. With increasing temperatures IPCC has also cautioned that in the rice bowls of South India heat stress on the rice crop is already approaching critical levels. The report warned that the winter yield of some crops...