-The Hindu The Centre's rural employment guarantee scheme can be substantially improved, but it has undeniably helped Dalits, Adivasis and women find work In an era of growing globalisation and rising inequality, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) stands out as a unique attempt to provide a social safety net via a massive public works programme. The government as an employer of the last resort is an idea that...

-The Hindu Kerala severely threatened by climate change, says State Action Plan on Climate Change Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Alappuzha, Palakkad, Wayanad and Idukki districts are climate change hotspots in Kerala, with a high degree of vulnerability to natural hazards like flood and drought and impact on biodiversity and human life. The State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) has classified Alappuzha and Palakkad as the most vulnerable districts. Palakkad is listed as very highly...

-The Hindu     I have not approved such trials: Union Minister Bangalore: Confronted by farmers on the issue of permission given for field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops, Union Minister for Environment and Forests M. Veerappa Moily on Tuesday said that "he only examined the file concerned and returned it without approving any such trials." Mr. Moily was reacting to farmers associated with the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) and South Indian Co-ordination...

-The Guardian Rice conservationist Debal Deb grapples with 'mindless Indian elite' to reintroduce genetically diverse, drought-tolerant varieties   Fifty years ago, every Indian village would probably have grown a dozen or more rice varieties that grew nowhere else. Passed down from generation to generation and family to family, there would have been a local variety for every soil and taste - rice that would grow well in droughts or deep floods, which had...

-The United Nations The United Nations agricultural agency today launched a new database which gathers under one roof previously scattered information about land cover - how much land is covered by croplands, trees, Forests, or bare soils - crucial to establishing a good global understanding of the physical characteristics of the Earth's surface. "A strong understanding of our planet's land cover is essential to promoting sustainable land resources management - including agricultural...