-Financial Chronicle Return for farmers could grow as overall output of cereal crops has remained stable With growing health awareness and relatively lower costs, millets are making a strong comeback after experiencing negative growth for several years. Millets, which are coarse cereals, need less water and are hence preferred by farmers in areas where there is a shortage of water. The crop is also favoured because of its productivity and short growing...

-Livemint.com As many as 23 out of 38 districts have received deficit rain ranging 20-60% of the normal; overall, the 2015 Jun-Sep monsoon recorded a 28% deficit Nitish Kumar, who will take oath as chief minister of Bihar for the third consecutive time, will face a daunting task as he tries to tackle rural distress in the state that has been hit by a drought. The issue had found little mention in the...

-Economic and Political Weekly The platform known as the JAM Trinity (an acronym for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers) may enable a shift from the current Public Distribution System, based on price subsidies, to the direct transfer of benefits. However, it is incorrect to argue that JAM technologies will necessarily lead to the demise of the PDS. State-level experiences of computerisation, recounted here, reveal that the same technologies can...

-The Hindu With just 9 lakh more male voters than female voters in the four phases, women are finally in a position to swing the outcome. Fifty years ago, a political party with ambitions of winning in Bihar could safely ignore its women. Not only were far fewer women than men registered to vote, but even fewer actually showed up to vote. In 1967, for instance, female turnout was 41 per cent...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Tribals of Kalrayan Hills and Jawad Hills in Vellore district are called 'silent woodcutters' — and not for nothing. They are masters of art of tree felling. They can trek, cut trees with barely any noise and bear away the logs on their heads in a matter of hours. It is for this skill that they are in great demand among red sanders mafia, centred in the...