-The Indian Express NREGA is a demand-driven programme and if the demand vanishes because wages are low and uncertain, nothing will be able to save it. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is going through a deep crisis of delayed and failed wage payments. The problem is not new, but it is more serious than ever and threatens to undermine the entire programme. The crisis has at least four manifestations: Delayed payments,...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: According to a report by the Niti Aayog, India is facing the "worst water crisis" in its history. Mismanagement, climate change and drought are some of the reasons for this. Further, rapid population growth has accelerated the demand for water. The report, titled ‘Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI), was released by Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari. Mismanagement is a major cause for India’s water crisis. Water...

-PTI Consumption of honey, cheese rises: study Patna: Prohibition is making people of Bihar spend on good clothes and food with sale of expensive sarees rising by 1,751%, while consumption of honey by 380% and that of cheese by 200% in the first six months of the ban, according to latest studies on the measure. The studies, conducted by think tank Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) and government-funded Development Management Institute (DMI), also...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's apex animal welfare agency has proclaimed that allowing stray animals such as cats, dogs, monkeys and cattle to roam the streets amounts to cruelty and told the states to create animal shelters, among other steps, or face legal action. The Animal Welfare Board of India, a unit of the Union environment ministry, has sent an advisory to the states seeking action by local municipal authorities to provide...

-Frontline.in The women-led climate-resilient farming model created by Swayam Shikshan Prayog in drought-hit Marathwada has yielded encouraging results and is worthy of emulation across the country. “LOOK at our quinoa. It has grown so well,” says a beaming Shailaja Narwade from Masia village near Solapur in interior Maharashtra. Shailaja has planted the traditional South American plant not for consumption but in order to harvest its seeds. “Quinoa seeds are very valuable...