-The Hindu Business Line Farm output at stake as rainfall deficit widens Ahmedabad: A continued dry spell in the current monsoon season has driven Gujarat to the brink of drought. The latest weather department data revealed that till September 9, Gujarat had a deficit of 21 per cent from the normal seasonal rainfall. Even as the kharif sowing is complete on 97 per cent of the area, the water storage conditions are not...

-Livemint.com Low support price, land acquisition bill, short supply of fertilizers among triggers for clashes, shows analysis New Delhi: Security agencies have warned the government of growing farmer unrest across the country as rural distress worsens. There has been a spurt in clashes among farmers and government agencies, particularly in states such as Maharashtra, which is facing acute rural distress. Till June end, 74 incidents were reported nationwide, twice the number recorded...

-The Times of India TRICHY: An invention to convert human urine into fertilizer for banana cultivation in 2012 by a principal scientist of the National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) here has not gained traction among farmers. Moreover, the central and state governments have not evinced any interest on the invention for the reasons best known to them. Farmers too are unwilling to adopt the invention which could reduce the cost...

-The Hindu Has the social media converted people into a lynch mob that seeks out justice and passes judgement instantly, without bothering to hear both sides of the story? The Internet has changed the way we communicate in more ways than we can imagine. Apart from being a medium to share pictures and updates with family and friends, social media has also become an arena where political debates are a commonplace and...

-Livemint.com Water availability has not deteriorated only because of the poor monsoon Amartya Sen showed in his seminal work on famines that mass starvation is not necessarily the result of inadequate food supply. He opened up new areas of inquiry that focussed on what have come to be known as entitlement failures. Sen has famously argued that human mistakes forced people into starvation in Bengal in 1943 even though food production in...