-The Hindu     The Earth is now in uncharted territory as atmospheric carbon dioxide has shot past the 400 ppm mark. There is no more room for manoeuvre When Brian Lara scored a scintillating 400 not out in Antigua in April 2004, it seemed his score would remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future. But we now have another player on the scene who has scored 400, and threatens to go past that number...

-The Hindu Steep rise in inputs and uncertainty over water availability are among factors Chennai: More and more small and marginal farmers are selling their meagre landholdings to become agricultural workers. This is how agriculturists, policy-makers and economists explain the finding in the Census for Tamil Nadu: Between 2001 and 2011, the strength of cultivators declined and the number of agricultural workers went up. In the 10-year period, there was a fall of...

-Outlook The Maoists want a military conflict as it brings more adivasis into their fold. The Indian state's best bet is in ensuring that it wins over the aam adivasis to its side.   May 25th's condemnable attack by the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, which ended up killing and injuring over 50 people from Congress politicians to migrant adivasi labourers, cannot be understood without recognising the Maoist party's explicit political aims. These...

-The Hindu Aruna Roy's decision to terminate her relationship with the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has returned the spotlight to the ideological divide within the ruling establishment on welfare spending. As the civil rights activist noted in her letter to the Congress president, the rupture came over the Manmohan Singh government's refusal to pay statutory minimum wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act -...

-The Business Standard Having quit the National Advisory Council (NAC), Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (MKSS) will intensify the movement to get minimum wages countrywide under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and a Rs 1,000 a month pension for unorganised labourers. She will also press the government to make it mandatory to have a pre-legislation process for all bills that the government proposes to introduce...