-The Indian Express The villagers’ ire is rooted in being isolated from the rest of the district for seven years. Tindharay: Fifty kilometres from Darjeeling town, roads snaking through tea-laden hills lead to Tindharay. It’s a nondescript village like many in the Darjeeling hills. But Sunday, as North Bengal voted, Tindharay did not do so — or at least not for any political party. The single polling booth in the village, located in...

-The Hindu Business Line Deepalaya, a library in a corner of Delhi, is quietly transforming lives of children by giving them access to books On Mondays and Fridays it’s easy to find the way to Deepalaya library, you just have to follow the children. Some are still in their school uniforms, most have changed into colourful ‘home wear’; and in groups of twos and threes, with books tucked under their arms, they...

-Business Standard Await go-ahead signal from ministry of agriculture for their use Mumbai: Private insurance companies are using drones to photograph farms and if permitted by the agriculture ministry these could provide data to calculate crop yield. Insurers are using unmanned aerial vehicles as a pilot scheme. The agriculture ministry has called for use of such modern technology for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Drones have not gained widespread commercial use, as...

-The Indian Express Every crisis produces its fall guy. This time, it is sugarcane that’s bearing the brunt of the blame for drought, especially in Maharashtra’s worst-affected Marathwada region. Sugarcane, no doubt, requires 2,100-2,200 mm of water, more than the 1,400 mm or so for paddy, 900 mm for cotton, 600 mm for jowar (sorghum) and arhar (pigeon-pea), 550 mm for wheat, and under 500 mm for soyabean and chana (chickpea). But then,...

-The Indian Express A new initiative attempts to economically empower villagers living near Kanha National Park, and protect its green cover and wildlife. The Kanha–Pench forest corridor is rich in biodiversity and home to a large concentration of tigers, leopards, gaurs, barasingha, and cheetal. But with the population of the villages increasing and land holdings shrinking, conservation efforts were paramount. If the needs of the villagers for improved livelihoods are not...