-The Hindu Have Emami and Karuturi bitten off more than they can chew in their land quest? Indian companies which invested in controversial deals involving hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Ethiopia have found themselves out of their depth in a fast-growing African economy that is still in the process of building critical transport and irrigation networks. Documents related to one such transaction reveal how Emami Biotech, a subsidiary of the...

-The Hindu Women continue to be invisible to planners, despite their high levels of contribution to the national economy, says a UN Women paper on women and forests Some of the present policies in forest management are detrimental to the poor, particularly women, states a UN Women paper by NC Saxena, member National Advisory Council, even as he suggests changes that could ameliorate their condition. Despite economic growth, gender inequalities in “critical human development...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Hours before he was removed from the land consolidation department, Haryana's whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka had framed a few novel rules to put an end to fraudulent benami land deals in the state. In his last-ditch effort to rein in land sharks, Khemka, the then inspector general of registration, on October 10, made the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India mandatory for...

-The Hindu The local community, especially men, have been roped into a project in 22 Maharashtra villages to stop female foeticide and discrimination against the girl child In India, the irony never ceases. While the country venerates several female deities of wealth, learning and valour, it also practises blatant discrimination against the girl child. Going by statistics revealed by the census and various government as well as independent studies, it has been...

-Outlook Mumbai: Maharashtra government plans to formulate a new social forestry policy which will be implemented in non-forest areas of the state to increase green cover. "In Maharashtra, the forest land is about 19 to 20 per cent, which comes under the Forest Department. The Social Forestry Department has decided to provide green cover to 80 per cent non-forest area and will elicit co-operation from the local self government bodies in this...