-Livemint.com A total of 158 farmers killed themselves in July in the state, bringing this year’s toll of farmer suicides to 197, the most since 2003 Bengaluru: The farmer suicide rate in Karnataka has hit the highest level in a decade, highlighting agrarian distress in the state. A total of 158 farmers killed themselves in July alone in the state, government data showed, bringing this year’s toll of farmer suicides to 197,...

-The Hindu RTI activist points out irregularities in procurement of biscuits Pune: More allegations of corruption are being made against the Maharashtra Women and Child Development Department (WCD) headed by BJP leader Pankaja Munde, with RTI activists pointing to irregularities in the manufacture and Distribution of Ayurvedic biscuits intended a vital source for the nourishment or tribal and underprivileged children living in the State’s backward districts. While the ‘chikki’ scam, whose irregularities have...

-Business Standard Ruling party MPs suggest changes to six of the nine amendments proposed by govt to the 2013 Act The government is set to relent on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015. On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of a parliamentary joint committee on the Bill suggested amendments that effectively bring back the social impact assessment and consent clauses,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: For all the subsidy flowing towards selling kerosene through the public Distribution system, it now emerges that the fuel is hardly being used in kitchens across India - in towns as well as villages - but remains a key source for lighting lamps and lanterns in rural areas, which either lack power connections or don't get adequate supply. The latest survey released by the National Sample...

-Outlook The poor are increasingly displaying food preferences for better tasting, flavoured and packaged foods but with low nutritional content. Renewed media hype about counting the number of poor was sparked by the recent release of the Socio-Economic Caste Census. While many analysts found the prevalence of poverty alarmingly high, others debunked the SECC report for its muddled and incoherent view of deprivation. An important contribution of this report, however, is the...