-The Hindu Business Line     Most farmer suicides linked to failed crops Hyderabad: The farm distress, particularly in cotton growing areas, continues to haunt the country. Maharashtra topped the list of farm suicides in 2013 with 3,146 farmers ending their lives. Andhra Pradesh (along with Telangana) stood second in the list with 2,014 deaths. The latest report of the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) has put the total number at 11,772, including 1,283 women, for...

-Down to Earth Rural women in Uttar Pradesh join hands to end gender bias in agriculture and claim joint ownership of land Breaking the stereotype of rural women, 39-year-old Suresho Saini proudly drives a tractor to plough 1.6 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Rahimpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. The plot belongs exclusively to her. "Women working in agricultural fields are a common sight in India; yet when we think...

-The Financial Express MGNREGA must be tweaked in implementation, not design. Before his tragic demise, the Union minister for rural development, Gopinath Munde, gave a clear indication of the new government's priorities on MGNREGA. Both these priorities are vital: using the programme for the creation of productive assets to combat drought and poverty and ensuring timely payment of wages. More than two decades of liberalisation and high economic growth have left India...

-Down to Earth Reforms in public distribution system and increase in number of people covered by it could be the reasons, say experts The latest data released by the government on household consumption patterns shows a decline in rice consumption and increase in consumption of wheat since 2004. In the meantime, consumption of rice and wheat made available through the public distribution system (PDS) has increased significantly, according to the survey report...

-NDTV After the Intelligence Bureau controversially concluded that Greenpeace India is "a threat to national economic security", the government asked for tighter controls on moving funds from abroad into the NGO's accounts. NDTV has learnt that one of the blacklisted foreign donors, the U.S.-based Climate Works Foundation, has helped fund projects run by the government in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Intelligence Bureau said in its report...