Recognising the impact of schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), President Pratibha Patil on Thursday called for their further utilisation in the agriculture sector in the emerging scenario of “farm labour shortage and food security.” The President's comments are significant in the context of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's recent letter to Prime Minister manmohan singh urging him to suspend the MGNREGS during crop harvesting...

-PTI Daily food grains availability per person in India has dropped by nearly 7 grams in the last five years, Parliament was informed on Friday. Per capita availability of food grains stood at 438.6 grams per day in 2010 compared to 445.3 grams per day for a citizen in 2006, Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. It was 442.8 grams per day in...

-The Hindu   Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said on Saturday it was imperative that necessary measures to allay people's fears over the Kundakulam Nuclear Power Project were taken before any precipitate action was embarked upon. In a letter to Prime Minister manmohan singh, she said she was amazed to see in the media that at a joint press conference with the Russian President he had announced that the KKNPP would be “operationalised...

-The Hindu   They set deadline for removing fuel assemblies in KKNPP complex Anti-Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project protesters will lay siege to the upcoming nuclear complex with their family members if works were resumed, and intensify the protest if fuel assemblies stored in the KKNPP complex were not removed before December 31, struggle committee convener S.P. Udayakumar has warned. The deadline has been in the wake of Prime Minister manmohan singh's announcement in Moscow...

-The Pioneer The union cabinet is expected to meet here Sunday evening to discuss the Lokpal and the food security bills, said official sources. The cabinet meeting, earlier scheduled for Monday, would now be held Sunday evening, the sources said Saturday evening Prime Minister manmohan singh, on his way back from Russia Saturday, said the government hopes to bring the Lokpal bill to the cabinet by Sunday. "We are working day and night...