-The Indian Express Agriculture education is in a poor state. ICAR must be revamped Although autarky on Indian farms is a distant dream, as the 71st year of Independence dawns, penury-ridden farmers are still committing suicide by the thousands— a consequence of decades of short-sightedness, while economists and scientists are still equating food sufficiency to farmer sustainability. The occasion merits introspection on the core issues of farmers’ distress. We must begin at the...

-The Hindu The political scientist on the danger to India’s checks and balances, and the perils of the democratisation of mediocrity in universities Professor of political science and a holder of the Madan Lal Sobti Chair, Devesh Kapur has been director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary India at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. Mr. Kapur, who recently co-edited Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, says our public universities...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: If the Narendra Modi government caves in and Grants a nationwide farm loan waiver, the tab could surge to a whopping Rs 3 lakh crore, dwarfing the UPA's initiative in 2008 that cost a little over Rs 52,000 crore. "We have warned that the exchequer will go bust if we grant a general amnesty on farm loans, which will cost over Rs 3 lakh crore," a senior finance...

-Livemint.com GM mustard is as safe and nutritious as regular mustard, the environment ministry says, even as India awaits ts final word on commercial production New Delhi: Genetically modified (GM) mustard plants are as safe and nutritious as regular mustard, the environment ministry said, even as the country await its final word on commercial production. In the backdrop of protests against GM mustard, the ministry on Saturday published an eight-page Frequently Asked Questions...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today highlighted "contradictions" in the Narendra Modi government's anti-Maoist policy, accusing it of stopping key security and development schemes in the rebel zones. He questioned the utility of convening security review meetings with the chief ministers of the Maoist-hit states - like the one held in Delhi today - when the Centre was not releasing funds to fight the rebels. Union home minister Rajnath...