-The New York Times BOLLIKUNTA, India - Latha Reddy Musukula was making tea on a recent morning when she spotted the money lenders walking down the dirt path toward her house. They came in a phalanx of 15 men, by her estimate. She knew their faces, because they had walked down the path before. After each visit, her husband, a farmer named Veera Reddy, sank deeper into silence, frozen by some terror...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture) With a production of 269 million tonnes in 2012-13, the horticulture sector has emerged as a major contributor to the food basket of the country. Horticulture production grew by more than 8% during the last decade. As compared to the production of 257 million tonnes in the previous year and 215 million tonnes about five years ago, there has been significant jump in the horticulture production,...

-The Hindu TISS chief seeks parity in trade tariff KASARAGOD (Kerala): With neo-liberal economic values holding increasing sway in contemporary society, India should strive to ensure a level playing field among nations to safeguard interest of small-time business groups and farmers in the country, Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) S. Parasuraman has said. "If you are talking about level playing field for all nations, after having become part of the...

-The Hindu A NABARD scheme has led to the revival of the nearly-extinct variety of paddy PUDUKOTTAI (Tamil Nadu): A farmer of Marundhanthalai village near here has revived a paddy variety, garudan samba, which was on the verge of extinction. Adopting bio-cultivation practices and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technique, the farmer R. Ganesan raised the 160-day- crop under the Farm Innovation Promotion Fund scheme of the National Bank for Agriculture...

-Down to Earth Report lacks region specific-information; methodology used is questionable, say experts in India A recent World Bank report recommending reduction of common pollutants like soot or black carbon and methane in the Himalayan region to slow global warming has drawn severe criticism from Indian scientists. Reducing emissions of black carbon and methane can not only save lives by reducing air pollutants in atmosphere but also bring down ice melt which is...