-Hindustan Times Productivity is also expected to drop further to about 35% owing to intermittent rains. Mumbai: Prolonged dry spells and deviation in rainfall for about six weeks in July and August has led to a drop in agricultural production and productivity when compared to the state’s five-year average and the bumper crop yielded last year. The drop, which ranges between 15% and 28%, in the production of pulses, cereals and oilseeds...

-The Hindu The top 1% of earners captured less than 21% of total income in the late 1930s, before dropping to 6% in the early 1980s and rising to 22% today, says renowned economist Lucas Chancel According to a research paper by renowned economists Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel, income inequality in India is at its highest level since 1922, the year the Income Tax Act was passed. In December, they will...

-The Hindu The case pertains to clearance given for diversion of forest land at Saranda Forest in Jharkhand’s Singhbhum District to a mining company in violation of Forest (Conservation) Act in 2012. The Central Bureau of Investigation on September 9 conducted searches at the Chennai premises of former Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan in connection with alleged irregularities in the approval to a proposal for leasing of 56 hectare forest land to...

-The Hindu ‘TK Kathir’ is cultivated in accordance with organic farming methods in Ernakulam village KOCHI: A local brand of organic rice named after a farmer’s grandfather and promoted by a political leader. But there is more to ‘TK Kathir’ than just that. Grown by T.D. Robert, a relatively newly converted paddy farmer of Kanjoor village, the brand was much sought after at the recently concluded organic Onam Mela organised by the Jaiva...

-Huffington Post blog A result of dysfunctional municipal planning and governance. The flooding woes of Indian cities have hit the headlines yet again, with Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Agartala being among the worst affected. As for the response to these crises—there is enough evidence to indicate that the patchwork solutions that have been employed will work like steroid shots that might mitigate the issue temporarily, but worsen it in the future. Planning in...