-The Hindu Chennai: The Tamil Nadu model of providing primacy to the views of farmers in the management of irrigation tanks has been lauded by an official of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), who is heading a team to review tank projects in India. Conventionally, the tank management has been governed by the water engineering-centric approach. But, in Tamil Nadu, "the focus is on farmers, their needs. And, that's the way...

-Down to Earth The fracas over India's refusal to meet the deadline on trade facilitation exposes rich nations' double standards NOTHING HAS exposed the double standards at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) than the current uproar over the implementation of two agreements at the global trade policing organisation. One, termed Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes, protects the food security concerns of millions of the poor and the livelihood of millions of...

-Economic and Political Weekly The study examines the experience of women farmers who lack rights to land and related factors of production, and provides insights into a number of conditions that hamper rural women's right to agricultural land. Further, it explores how inheritance practices disfavour women, and those women who claim land encounter many institutional and non-institutional constraints. In conclusion, the paper suggests policy and practice measures for women's economic empowerment...

-The Business Standard The Budget missed the chance to articulate its intentions to the farming community; the prime minister's Independence Day speech provides another invaluable opportunity Young Indians starting their careers in an environment devoid of hope and opportunity and surviving on dole will be inclined to populist politics. But the farming community expects much more substance from the government, and the Budget was a good example of how populism trumped...

-The Hindu Business Line The Rangarajan panel has added to the confusion. Let's have one final committee to set things right There is constant confusion in India over BPL (below poverty line) figures proffered by different agencies. The latest is the debate over the Rangarajan Committee's estimates, as against the assessment of the Tendulkar Committee. The difference in their estimates is due to variation in the parameters adopted. In other words, the definition...