To make ends meet and support her family, former national archer Nisha Rani Dutta has been forced to sell her silver bow for a measly Rs.50,000. The 21-year-old archer hails from Pathmada village in Jamshedpur district of Jharkhand and left the sport two years ago due to financial constraints. Her achievements include a silver medal at the 2008 South Asian Championship in Jharkhand, bronze at the 2006 Bangkok Grand Prix and...
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Economic growth and food security depend on healthy farm sector, whose pillar, the farmer, is still neglected by Ajay S Shriram
In India, agriculture and allied sector is the source of income for over 60% of rural population and its contribution to GDP has been consistently coming down and currently stands at 14.3%. For the Indian economy to grow at the rate of 8-9%, the growth rate of agriculture sector has to be more than 4%. The critical role of agriculture in the economy highlights the need for a larger investment in...
More »Bid to revive forests in Jammu and Kashmir by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
ZAVOORA, India (AlertNet) – Amid thousands of tree stumps stretching over almost 60 hectares (150 acres) of bare plateau, there are signs of life. Delicate saplings of kail and deodar conifers are growing between other newly planted deciduous trees. The woodland had been cut down illegally by loggers and encroached upon for farming. But forestry officials here in Shopian district, a two-hour drive south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s...
More »The tying of farm aid
-The Business Standard Use central funds to push agri-reform in states The agriculture ministry’s reported decision to tie the state-wise allocation of funds from the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) to the states’ progress on agri-marketing reforms seems likely to benefit both farmers and consumers. Yet the gains from releasing central assistance only conditionally could be substantially augmented. If the Centre is serious about reform, it should expand this conditionality to other...
More »How rural kitchen pays by Richard Mahapatra
Local procurement for anganwadis can revive rural economy in a big way The dominating noise of the grinder and the mixer speaks loudly of a new skill that the women of Binka village have mastered. The house, centre of all activity, is the busiest in this sleepy village. The women are making a nutrition mix for 270 anganwadi centres in two blocks of Odisha’s Subarnapur district. Famed for their weaving skills, the...
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