-Livemint.com Last year’s abundant rains in drought-prone Marathwada region, of which Latur is a part, have helped farmers produce record amount of pulses Mumbai: Latur is back on its feet and its pulse mills are running again, a year after an acute drought. The dry bed of the Manjra river, the water train from Sangli and the once ubiquitous water tankers have become things of the past. Last year’s abundant rains in Marathwada—a...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan today urged environment minister Anil Dave to reject a regulatory panel's recommendation to release genetically modified mustard for commercial cultivation, questioning the regulatory process and claims about the plant's superiority. In a letter to Dave, Bhushan cited a Supreme Court hearing on GM crops and described India's regulatory mechanisms for such crops as "farcical". He asked Dave to "withhold" his approval to the...

-The Indian Express Demand a compensation of Rs 5,000 per acre for damage to crop due to straws Samao/ Ralla (Mansa): Despite the state government’s awareness campaign and crackdown against burning of wheat stubble to check pollution, defiant farmers in Punjab vowed to continue the practice till the government came up with a solution. The burning of wheat stubble, which started from Aklia village in Mansa district on Sunday, continued Tuesday not only...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The government is all set to notify a new set of Right to Information rules that will allow appeals to be withdrawn and, according to activists, put the lives of whistleblowers in danger. The government is all set to notify a new set of Right to Information (RTI) rules that will allow appeals to be withdrawn and, according to activists, put the lives of whistleblowers in danger. The Central...

-Frontline.in The British government, on the basis of an 1891 report on the subhuman living conditions of “Pariahs” by James H.A. Tremenheere, Acting Collector of Chengleput, assigned 12 lakh acres of land for distribution to the “depressed classes” of the Madras Presidency to empower them socially and economically. But more than 100 years later, much of this land is in the possession of non-Dalits, and the struggle to reclaim them has...