-The Guardian In a village in India's poorest state, Bihar, farmers are growing world record amounts of rice – with no GM, and no herbicide. Is this one solution to world food shortages? Sumant Kumar was overjoyed when he harvested his rice last year. There had been good rains in his village of Darveshpura in north-east India and he knew he could improve on the four or five tonnes per hectare that he usually...

-The United Nations Many chemicals found in household and industrial products that have not been adequately tested could have disrupting effects on the hormone system and lead to significant health issues, according to a United Nations report released today. The report highlights some associations between exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and health problems such as breast cancer in women, prostate cancer, attention deficit and hyperactivity in children and thyroid cancer. “Chemical products...

-The Business Standard Implement it with watershed development schemes to alleviate poverty The United Progressive Alliance government appears to be upbeat regarding the prospects of its flagship scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which provides a universal, self-targeting guarantee of 100 days of employment to every household in all rural districts of India. “MGNREGA has tremendous potential to increase agricultural production, which we have not been able to...

-The Hindu Sequel to complaints that minority welfare schemes not percolating to intended beneficiaries Ahead of the next general elections in 2014, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government has proposed constitution of a high-power committee to review and assess the implementation of Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee’s recommendations and Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme. This comes after a barrage of complaints from the Muslim community and a perception widely shared by people inside and...

-The Times of India Few government programmes are as debated in this country as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Introduced by the UPA government in 200 backward districts in 2006, and extended to the entire country by 2007-08, MGNREGA has become a fact of life in rural India; on an average around 25% of rural households seek employment under the scheme annually. In recent times, it has become...