-The Hindu   PDS needs cannot be met from open market Bidar (Karnataka): The State government is forced to consider other options for procuring millets for distribution under the public distribution system (PDS) as it could not meet the requirements from open market. It is estimated that 30,000 tonnes of jowar and 25,000 tonnes of ragi are needed for distribution under the PDS along with rice every month. However, only around 14,000 tonnes of...

-Frontline   A Delhi High Court verdict says the State government is bound to ensure that poor and vulnerable sections of society have access to treatment for rare and chronic diseases. SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Mohammed Ahmed Khan looked on helplessly as his father, Sirajuddin, narrated the sordid tale of the loss of four of his children to Gaucher's disease, a rare genetic disease that requires lifelong, exorbitantly expensive enzyme replacement therapy. Sirajuddin, a rickshaw...

-The Business Standard SC may have lifted the ban on mining in the state but it will be a while before exports resume in right earnest A lot was riding on Goa's iron ore mines till the Supreme Court clamped down on them in September 2012. As much as 40 million tonnes of iron ore was being mined every year. Fifteen thousand people worked in these mines. Another 80,000 operated the...

-The Hindu Business Line   Technology is transforming Indian agriculture and increasing output. This is good news, given that India may need to produce 90 million tonnes of foodgrain annually by 2030 to feed its growing population, says Vishwanath Kulkarni Jitendra, a prosperous farmer from Machrauli in Haryana, had barely hired a combine to harvest wheat on his 10-acre plot when clouds started building up. The weather office had predicted rains over the...

-ANI   Aurangabad: Absence of proper rainfall has risked the farmlands of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra and lack of subsequent effective government intervention is leaving farmers with no option but suicide. According to climate report of researchers there are high chances of climatic conditions similar to El Nino effect to occur in 14 districts in Maharashtra. Farmers of Marathwada region in Aurangabad have been experiencing difficult times for the last three years. The...