-The Telegraph New Delhi: Last year, the invitation card was printed thrice - first with the Prime Minister's name, next without his name and finally with his name. This time, the organisers have been spared the agony of uncertainty: the card has been printed without the Prime Minister's name. Narendra Modi will be skipping the Central Information Commission's annual convention for the first time since the Right to Information Act was enacted in...

-Deccan Herald Water in India has now become a contentious issue due to rise in demand, climate change and growing mismanagement. With erratic rainfall and recurring droughts in 2012, 2015 and 2016, “water saving” has become a high priority for the governments. As the agriculture sector consumes 80% of freshwater in the country, micro-irrigation –  drip and sprinkler irrigation – has been catapulted as a policy priority because drip and sprinkler irrigation...

-The Indian Express Agriculture’s contribution to poverty reduction is five times more than that of metropolitan centres Speaking at the third BRICS Urbanisation Forum in Visakhapatnam on September 14, Deputy Chairman of the Niti Ayog, Arvind Panagariya, announced that “Without cities we can’t grow rapidly”. He added, “urbanisation plays an important role in poverty alleviation”. Both claims are exaggerated and somewhat misleading. A recent report prepared for the UN points out that, over...

-The Hindu Business Line An Odisha organisation is working hard to preserve traditional foods and prevent the mainstream from swallowing up local knowledge systems Inside a candy pink-and-yellow shamiana, a group of children in blue uniforms line up in front of stalls heaving with different kinds of foods. Tubers in shades of brown, beige and cream; pink and red berries; tiny yellow, orange and red tomatoes; leaves of many sizes and shapes;...

-DNA India is effectively the first country to mandate a minimum CSR spend. How to make use of it. Malnutrition is one of the many problems arising from uneven distribution of resources that plague the country today. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that 194.6 million people in the country are undernourished. It is ironic that one of the largest economies in the world is also a home to...