Access to land and its resources is important since it determines the extent of poverty and deprivation one faces. Historically tribal populations and other traditional forest dwellers did not enjoy any legal entitlement such as ownership rights or user rights of the forest lands where they had been living since ages, both communally and individually. The Forest Rights Act (FRA) is, thus, seen as a progressive legislation that attempted to...

-Livemint.com Solar-powered water pumps will insure farmers when rains fail and also replace polluting diesel ones New Delhi: India has set an ambitious target of achieving 100,000 megawatts of solar power capacity by 2022 as well as doubling farm incomes by the 75th year of Independence. Both these targets can be a game changer for rural India if implemented in unison, suggests new research. According to a recent study by New Delhi-based International...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Sixty-four per cent consumers still don’t know how to get the subsidised LED bulbs being made available by the government of India, a survey conducted by citizen engagement platform LocalCircles revealed. The poll was carried across 56 cities and 20 States. The government had announced an LED distribution scheme under which electricity board customers are eligible to buy LED bulbs at a subsidised rate. This scheme was launched...

-The Indian Express Farmers can install solar panels on their fields that can generate income in addition to regular crop agriculture. Of its several new initiatives, the Narendra Modi government has set out at least two very ambitious targets, which are also quantifiable. One is achieving 100 giga-watts (GW) of solar power generation capacity by the year 2022. The other is doubling farmers’ income — presumably in real terms — also by 2022,...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: An inter-ministerial panel is likely to discuss on Tuesday a draft Bill prepared by the consumer affairs ministry which seeks to punish celebrities who endorse products that are substandard or make misleading claims. The stringent provisions in the Bill include a fine of Rs 10 lakh and jail of up to two years for a first offence by celebrities. For subsequent offences, the draft Bill provides a fine...