-IBNLive.in New Delhi: Expressing concern over the poor plight of farmers, Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday urged them to grow crops other than wheat and rice to come out of poverty. Farmers can earn more if they have diversification in crops that can be used for manufacturing ethanol, electricity, bio-gas among other products, he said. "Today, farmers' situation is very bad. We cannot get our farmers out of poverty if...

-The Business Standard Says need to increase the annual incremental milk production from 4 million tonnes per year to 7.8 million tonnes India's estimated demand for milk is likely to be about 155 million tonnes by 2016-17 and around 200 million tonnes in 2021-22, said chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) at the two-day seminar-cum-workshop on ‘Convergence of Productivity Enhancement Activities to Meet Future Demand of Milk and Milk Products'. "The country's...

-DNA The aim is to drive farmers out of agriculture and turn food production into industrial enterprise Some years ago, former President APJ Abdul Kalam was addressing students at an annual event organised by K Govindacharya's Bhartiya Swabhiman Andolan at Gulbarga in Karnataka. He exhorted students to work hard, educate themselves to become doctors, engineers, civil servants, scientists, economists and entrepreneurs. After he had ended his talk, a young student got...

-Economic and Political Weekly The relationship between depleting water levels and school dropout rates is poorly studied. As chronic water shortages begin to affect more regions of the country, this trend will begin to appear more forcefully. Kishore Jha (kishor.delhi6@gmail.com) is working on child rights with Terre des Homes, Germany. Devender, a 14-year-old boy from Kheeda village in Almora district in Uttarakhand State, studies in Class 8. He spends at least three hours...

-Down to Earth Area under cultivation of millets is declining in spite of national Food Security Mission While the Union government plans to restructure the Food Corporation of India (FCI), agriculture scientists and nutrition experts are recommending that effective millet management should be included in the Public Distribution System (PDS) of the country. The step is important to achieve the food and nutrition security for the small and marginal tribal farming communities,...