-The Hindustan Times   Chhajali (Sangrur): The ongoing parliamentary elections hold little MEAning for 80-year-old debt-ridden Jasmail Kaur as they cannot change her fate. Jasmail has been living alone at her small house at Chhajali village of Sunam since her 19-yearold son Jaggi committed suicide 18 years ago. "Jaggi was two when his father Gurjant Singh died of a prolonged illness," says Jasmail with tears in her eyes. "For the past 18 years,...

-The Hindu Business Line   Technology is transforming Indian agriculture and increasing output. This is good news, given that India may need to produce 90 million tonnes of foodgrain annually by 2030 to feed its growing population, says Vishwanath Kulkarni Jitendra, a prosperous farmer from Machrauli in Haryana, had barely hired a combine to harvest wheat on his 10-acre plot when clouds started building up. The weather office had predicted rains over the...

-The Business Standard   Higher judiciary has not addressed the delays in India's courts Continuing what will be a year of quick personnel changes for the higher judiciary, a new chief justice of India, R M Lodha, has taken office. Justice Lodha will have only a five-month tenure. It will be difficult for him to introduce any far-reaching reform in this period. His initial speech after being sworn in must have been written...

-ANI   Aurangabad: Absence of proper rainfall has risked the farmlands of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra and lack of subsequent effective government intervention is leaving farmers with no option but suicide. According to climate report of researchers there are high chances of climatic conditions similar to El Nino effect to occur in 14 districts in Maharashtra. Farmers of Marathwada region in Aurangabad have been experiencing difficult times for the last three years. The...

-The Telegraph   Paddy may not be the climate culprit that the world is making it out to be Agricultural scientist Pratap Bhattacharyya may have found a remarkable piece of evidence that absolves swathes of paddy fields stretching over millions of hectares of a climate crime. On the contrary, he believes that rice is doing its bit for the environment. A study by Bhattacharyya and his colleagues at the Cuttack-based Central Rice Research Institute...