-Livemint.com According to a background note prepared by the agriculture ministry, less than a fifth of targeted farmers have received soil health cards New Delhi: The government’s flagship scheme to correct the imbalance in fertiliser use and reduce costs of cultivation by providing all farmers with a soil health card is moving at a slow pace as states drag their feet. According to a background note prepared by the agriculture ministry and...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Women outnumber men in increasing proportions in India’s rural job scheme, a trend experts call the “feminisation” of the programme. With changes in the labour environment — more men migrating for better wages — more women are working as labourers for additional household income. The scheme, launched in 2006, had less than 20% women in its workforce in the initial years but after a decade, 56% of jobs...

-Business Standard The efficacy of farm debt waivers is ambiguous, but it has proved to be a potent potent weapon in the run-up to elections With elections round the corner in agrarian states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, his party’s Punjab chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal are trying to woo farmers of the two states with promises of farm...

-The Hindu "This is a major problem. They are getting money from all over the world. Mind-boggling..." Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur observed. New Delhi: Noting that NGOs get “mind-boggling” funds and it has become a “major problem,” the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will consider asking the Law Commission of India to bring an effective law to regulate the flow of money to a total 29.99 lakh NGOs functioning...

-The Indian Express An enduring solution to India’s water woes lies in buffer stocking during monsoon months and release during lean seasons. Till June end this year, the government was worried about how to cope with back-to-back drought. But by the second half of August, the scene changed dramatically and several states were in the spate of floods. In Bihar, more than five million people have been affected and 6,50,000 displaced from...