-The Financial Express Over 14 crore households who cultivate on land owned by others under a formal lease agreement or even under a temporary arrangement overseen by the gram panchayats or other official functionaries may soon start getting assorted sops doled out to “farmers” by the government just as their land-owing counterparts do. According to official sources, the definition of farmer will be changed via a gazzette notification to include cultivators...

-The Economic Times The art of good governance is through trial and error, figuring out what works where and how, and scaling up from below. Only then can one have a solid foundation. Aadhaar literally means something that holds (dhaaran: to hold). The word is interpreted either as a foundation or base (such as, to a building), or a container (such as, of water), even though given that it is an identity-verifying...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI/ JALANDHAR: Delhi Police has registered an "open-ended" FIR in connection with the alleged leak of Aadhaar data for a fee. The FIR has been lodged on the complaint of a senior UIDAI official under Sections 36 and 37 of the Aadhaar Act, apart from Indian Penal Code sections on cheating, forgery and impersonation, and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act. On January 3, a report...

-The Hindu Can sparkling Mahua replace Champagne and Proseco as the drinks of choice in the new year? One of the most valuable characteristics of economic life in Europe is the tremendous importance it gives to local resources, skills and spaces, whether through need or intent. Geographical labels for specific products, especially wines and spirits, significantly contribute to local economies. Every French or Italian region has at least a few products from the...

-The Indian Express Pesticide Management Bill should address the anomalies that prevent state governments from booking large pesticide companies. “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter,” goes an old African proverb, which is also apt to describe the state of the world’s farmers. Farmers are like the hunted lions who need their side of the story told and their sacrifices, agony, courage and fears...