-Down to Earth Black rice is drought resistant and has rich medicinal properties. Manipur and Assam are reviving this variety Not very long ago, black rice (Oryza sativa) was forbidden in China. Not because it looked poisonous for its black colour, but because it had nutritional values, and found a place only on an emperor’s menu. For centuries, the nutritional values of this wild rice eluded common people. It is only now...

-Outlook Haryana’s new, ‘progressive’ panchayat election rules skewers the chances of women and the marginalised In rural Haryana, last year’s drought-hit fields are finally giving way to the verdant yellow and green of mustard, but the people are restive, even angry. All along the glittering 250-km highway that connects Rohtak with Nuh—Haryana’s west and east, also its best and worst—a wedge has been driven between the rich and the poor by...

-The Hindu City fetes Jadav Payeng and Abdul Kareem — men who built forests from scratch. Mumbai: Leaders of nations the world over devote a large part of their time, money and policy framework to the growth of the economy. But if they held their breath for a minute, they would realise it is life-sustaining oxygen that needs their urgent attention. At the recently-concluded Paris climate change conference, Jadav “Molai” Payeng, 52, known...

-The Hindu Business Line A CAG report has laid bare the fact that rice millers have for decades reaped undue gains even as they failed to replenish the national food stock Much like rice spilling out of a Tear in the sack, the country’s food procurement system has been leaking crores of rupees every year and impoverishing the government. Last week, in a report presented to Parliament the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG)...

-Scroll.in The 45 houses of Ambedkar Nagar received no flood warning, no relief material and no visit from the authorities for a least a month. “For 36 days no one has come to check on us. Forget bringing us things and giving us help – no one has even come to ask ‘how are you’ll doing?’, ‘are you’ll safe?’, ‘are you’ll alive?’” L Pavai was in Tears as she spoke of...