-The Hindu Business line India’s North-East, comprising eight States, is largely unspoilt by modern agricultural practices, which involve heavy use of agro-chemicals and chemical fertilisers. For this precise reason, the region is a natural choice for promoting organic farming in the country. Sikkim, the first organic State in India, has already shown the way for the other States in the region. According to the estimates available with the Agricultural and Processed...

-The Telegraph They are protesting the Centre’s move to regularise online sale of medicines New Delhi: An association of BRIck-and-mortar retail chemists has called on all its 800,000 members nationwide to observe a day-long strike on Friday in protest against the Centre’s move to regularise online sale of medicines. The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has claimed that online sales would raise the risk of drug abuse and drug interactions...

-Firstpost.com Ludhiana: Free meals, payment in advance, free liquor to ease aching limbs after a hard day’s work. Migrant labour in Punjab, mainly from Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, the mainstay of the state’s agriculture sector, has never had it so good. The problem, however, is the decreasing availability of this labour. Ask Baljinder Singh, a farmer with a 10-acre holding in Dakha village. Come sowing season in mid-June, Baljinder...

-Hindustan Times Bus journey takes lesser time, is more punctual and on most occasions, one can find a seat just before the vehicle departs. This is in stark contrast to the Bihar-bound trains which are often delayed by as much as 24 hours, needs a ticket to be booked months in advance and on which landing a Tatkal ticket requires monumental effort and ample luck. New Delhi: An impatient Chandan Singh does...

-The Hindu Vantangiyas, who derive their name from a Burmese tradition of hill cultivation, have lived in tin shacks without toilets for decades Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh): There is no proper road to Jungle Tinkonia-3. As its name suggests, one must pass a woodland of sal and teak trees to reach it. The situation gets even more precarious during monsoons and medical emergencies, as the village does not have any health centre. Its infrastructure is...