-The Telegraph New Delhi: Eight states or Union territories, including the Prime Minister's home state Gujarat, have not yet implemented the National Food Security Act, 2013, the Supreme Court was informed yesterday. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli are the other defaulters. The law aims to provide up to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Art of Living may have promised zero environmental degradation because of the three-day World Culture Festival, but the high power consumption for the event will not be without impact. The organisers will be drawing power from diesel generators, which have high emissions because of the type of fuel used. Arrangements have to be made by the organisers on their own as power distribution company, BSES, will not provide power...

-TheHansIndia.com Anantapur: The Telugu Desam government’s pet subsidised rice scheme conceived by the party’s founder N T Rama Rao has helped the party ride to power several times in the past. But the same scheme is now being watered down by the beneficiaries themselves, both eligible and ineligible, apart from the deep nexus between the dealers and black marketeers. About 40 percent of both eligible and ineligible ration cardholders are actually defeating...

-The Indian Express Budget 2016 has a greater focus on the rural and social sectors. But the challenge will lie in improving delivery systems. Indian agriculture as well as the rural sector have been in distress in the last two years due to deficit rainfall and the decline in global commodity prices. The rural non-agriculture sector, too, has been under stress due to the lack of demand for manufacturing and services. It...

-DNA Reintroduction of oil seed and pulses which require less water is must, govt told Mumbai: To curb the growing number of suicides, Maharashtra government should ask farmers of 14 suicide-prone districts to adopt the Sikkim-pattern non-chemical farming. This suggestion has come from the committee which was appointed by the government to look into the vexed issue. The report filed by the committee said that the rain-sensitive cash crop in these 14 crisis...