-The Economic Times Dinkar Patil, a farmer from Buldhana district in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, normally cultivates cotton on his 13-acre farm land. This year, however, he has skipped the cotton crop and opted for soyabean and tur dal. "The rainfall started late. I did not cultivate cotton because of the delayed rains and the huge increase in cost of cultivation of the crop," said Patil. He is expecting a fall of about...

-Accountability Initiative/ RaghuBytes Unless you have a blocked nose, I strongly suggest that you do not drive from Bhubaneshwar the capital of Orissa, to Kandamahal, a remote tribal district, particularly in the evenings. At twilight, when you begin to wind into the interior, you are greeted with the sight of the behinds of the entire population squatting on the roadside, faces turned away and shitting. We quickly wound up the windows...

-The Hindu Group cultivation brings cheer to tribespeople of Thayannankudy KATTAPPANA (Kerala): Ragi, locally known as ‘keppa,' has a traditional link with the food habits of tribespeople, especially the Muthuvans. When its cultivation was taken up under the livelihood programme of the tribespeople of Thayannankudy in the remote forest settlement of the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, it turned out to be a huge group activity. The ragi field on 17 hectares of land will be...

-Tehelka The Centre must empower forest-dwellers and strengthen legislation instead of bypassing the Forest Rights Act and playing into increased conflict What did not raise much chatter last week was a hint that the ‘development' juggernaut was considering scrapping the Forest Rights Act, using one of many backdoor methods available to bypass legislation. It will force the country back to intense mineral-based conflict and also the never-ending struggle for land, which fill over-crowded...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: Efficiency is another matter, but state police are as good or bad as their more hyped counterparts in Maharashtra or Delhi as far as not following Right to Information (RTI) Act goes. A nationwide study on proactive information disclosure through police and prison websites across 29 states by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, a New Delhi-based NGO, released yesterday, showed none followed the transparency regimen prescribed under RTI Act, Section...