-The Hindu Business Line Loan waivers have made banks wary of them; beneficiaries are farm infra/services firms Every year the Centre announces an increase in the agri credit limit, but not even half of this reaches small farmers. Small farmers typically take small loans — of less than Rs. 2 lakh. RBI data show that in FY17, the share of loans of Rs. 2 lakh or less was just 40 per cent of...

-The Hindu The Electoral Bond Scheme inhibits the citizen’s capacity to meaningfully participate in political and public life Early this year the government introduced an Electoral Bond Scheme purportedly with a view to cleansing the prevailing Culture of political sponsorship. But the programme’s failings have been so blindingly obvious, and its consequences so utterly devastating to rectitude and transparency in government, that even O.P. Rawat, who just retired Chief Election Commissioner, thought...

-Down to Earth Local food crops should be preferred over GM crops to address deficiencies, say experts at Bhubaneswar food sovereignty meet. A recent study has found that Gandhari saag, a leafy wild plant found in Odisha, can be a much better source of Vitamin A than golden rice, a genetically modified variety, which was being looked at as a revolutionary solution to check the vitamin deficiency. “Gandhari saag has 9 per cent...

-The Telegraph Of the 87,000 female homicides in 2017, 58 per cent were perpetrated by intimate partners and family members The most dangerous place for women, according to a United Nations report on gender-related killing of women and girls, is their home. Of the 87,000 female homicides in 2017, 58 per cent were perpetrated by intimate partners — past or present — and family members. This throws the cold light of day...

-The New Indian Express Odisha, is the only State in the country, to have formulated all tribal bilingual dictionaries and trilingual tribal language proficiency modules. BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday unveiled 21 tribal dictionaries and proficiency modules. The State Government through its Academy of Tribal Language and Culture (ATLC) has brought out the tribal bilingual dictionaries for multilingual education and tribal trilingual proficiency modules to preserve and promote tribal languages. Odisha,...