-The Hindustan Times Gurdaspur (Punjab): Punjab, known for its sprawling agricultural fields, is equally famous for burning of paddy and wheat straw by farmers after the harvesting season. The smoke released from burning of paddy straw is extremely bad for health. "Each year, the agriculture department spreads the same message highlighting the ill-effects of straw burning in the fields, but farmers rarely pay heed to it. Burning of straw causes severe harm...

-Women's Feature Service Tribal families in Bankura, West Bengal, living on a stable diet of potato and rice and occasionally some 'daal' (lentils), are now consuming a variety of vegetables, cereals, fruits and animal protein with relish on a daily basis, marking a sea change in the nutrition parametres in one of the most backward districts of India. The credit for this dramatic transformation goes to the dry land sustainable integrated farming...

-The Hindu   The reassuring message in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is that in pursuing its economic objectives, the government wants to accord an important role to the public sector even while relying on market mechanisms The goal is hard to achieve. It is costly and unviable. It will create huge stresses in the banking system. The Narendra Modi government's Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY), an ambitious scheme for financial...

-The Hindu Reason: INOrdinate delay in sanctioning of funds by Centre Theni (Tamil Nadu): Thousands of labourers, who registered their names with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), in rain-fed and drought-prone areas of the district are jobless due to the INOrdinate delay in sanctioning of funds by the Centre. The delay has not only stalled ongoing works but also affected implementation of new ones, according to officials in village...

-The Hindu Rs. 3,000 crore for the North-East alone; fillip to PM's rural scheme The Union Budget 2014 has given importance to fast-tracking highways and improving the road infrastructure to augment the nation's arterial network. "The sector had taken shape between 1998 and 2004 under NDA-I. The sector again needs huge amount of investment," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while tabling the Budget. "I propose investment in National Highways Authority of India and...