-Hindustan Times Bhubaneswar: Debt and drought have reportedly forced five Odisha farmers to commit suicide in as many days, prompting the human rights commission on Tuesday to take note of the state’s deepening farm crisis. The farmers — all of them in their 40s — allegedly took the drastic step after their paddy crop wilted because of scanty rainfall and they have loans to repay. In another case, it was cotton. At least...

-Business Standard Sixteen states and Union territories implemented the Act's provisions in all districts or some The Centre has decided not to extend the Wednesday deadline for states to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA). "Those states who have not adopted the NFSA will continue to get grains under old public distribution system rates, but they must realise it is not in their own interest to keep away from the Act for...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India, market regulator Sebi and the Gujarat government today petitioned the Supreme Court to modify its earlier order restricting the use of Aadhaar cards to a handful of schemes. In separate applications, the petitioners requested that authorities be allowed to demand the production of Aadhaar cards for all services, social welfare schemes and securities transactions. Else, they argued, the precluded schemes would be affected. The...

-TheWire.in New Delhi: Despite five Supreme Court orders since September 2013 stating that the Aadhaar card cannot be a mandatory requirement for access to government services or subsidies, the reality on the ground continues to remain very different. The point was underlined at a press conference in Delhi yesterday where, besides lawyers and experts, a resident of Yamuna Khadar, Delhi described how he was denied emergency treatment in two public hospitals...

-The Hindu Business Line A valuable account of how holistic, small-farmer based agriculture can show the way MS Swaminathan is well known as the key architect of India’s Green Revolution in the mid-1960s and an all-time crusader against hunger and food insecurity. His latest book, entitled Combating Hunger and Achieving Food Security, broadly shows the road map for a hunger-free and food-secure India. The book has 30 chapters, each suggesting some sweet...