-The Hindu 13 farmers have ended life till date in 2016 owing to crop failure due to spurious seeds Andhra Pradesh: Farmer suicides mount in Adilabad, the opposition Congress has accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao of doing a Nero. “Ignoring the severe crisis gripping the farm sector is like Nero fiddling while Rome was burning,” observed District Congress Committee working president Naresh Jadhav, trying to drive home the point. “The enthusiasm shown...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Communal violence witnessed a rise in 2015, with 751 incidents recorded across the country as against 644 in 2014. According to data put out by the government in reply to a Lok Sabha question on Wednesday, there was also a rise in casualties resulting from communal unrest last year, with dead and injured up at 97 and 2,264 from 95 and 1,921 respectively in 2014. Incidentally,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Government scientists have released to industry a portable instrument that they say can detect within 45 seconds some of the commonest contaminants used to adulterate milk in the country. Developed at the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute in Pilani, Rajasthan, the instrument automatically scans milk samples for detergent, urea, soap, soda and salt without the need to employ technicians. Milk samples are now routinely tested through a range of...

-The Hindu Business Line The scheme has made life easier for the people of this Andhra Pradesh village, one of the first in the state to have 100 per cent financial inclusion. But the local experience also throws up a few questions relevant nationally, reports Gunturi Naga Sridhar Fourty-year-old M Ravamma, from Polavaram, a village in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, had a nightmarish experience two months ago. Her husband complained...

-Down to Earth The BJP-led government's change of heart for big-ticket rural programmes says a lot about its dwindling political fortune India's current political season has a nostalgic tint. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has apparently met party leaders to kickstart a campaign against the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’S) overt efforts to softly kill the erstwhile government’s flagship programmes. Particularly, the NDA government’s political decisions to not pursue the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...