-Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies World-renowned journalist P. Sainath has returned to Princeton to teach two courses, beginning this week, in the Program for South Asian Studies. The former rural affairs editor of The Hindu and award-winning "reporter" - he prefers the term to journalist - has devoted his career to telling the stories of India, uncovering the truth of social problems, rural affairs, poverty and the aftermath of...

-Economic and Political Weekly While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these varieties have been brought under legal protection through national legislation. Parameswaran Prajeesh (prajeesh@mssrf.res.in) is a researcher with the...

-The Hindu Business Line   Will the growth-versus-distribution debate finally be settled in favour of the former? There are few areas of settled concord in economic theory. That the dynamic of power is often determinant in the limited enclaves of consent has been evident in recent times in the growth-versus-distribution debate. Residual doubts about the tilt of current policy were laid to rest with the Economic Survey for 2014-15. In this assessment of the...

-IANS Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Wednesday announced Rewards to districts and villages across the state which curb the unhealthy practice of burning stubble (residue of harvested crops). "The Punjab government has announced an incentive for each district and village with a financial grant of Rs.1 crore and Rs.1 lakh respectively, which were free from the burning of stubble," a state government spokesman said here. "This decision has been taken to curb the...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Next year on Independence Day, India will have the world's largest 750MW solar power plant in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, which will pip America's much-vaunted 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight solar project in California, commissioned four days ago. Acquisition of 1,500 hectares of land for the Rs 4000 crore project is close to completion and government agencies are likely to invite tenders from developers by April. The state...