-The Hindu Jaipur: On Akshaya Tritiya, considered auspicious, a large number of child marriages take place in rural Rajasthan The Rajasthan government has asked its health workers and paramedical staff and non-governmental organisations to prevent child marriages on Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on April 21, and Peepal Purnima on May 4. On these days, considered auspicious, a large number of child marriages take place nationwide, especially in rural Rajasthan. According to the Annual Health...

-PTI Chandigarh: punjab government will provide water connections and toilets to every rural household in the next six years, with the World Bank sanctioning a loan of Rs 1,540 crore for water and sanitation facilities in the state. The World Bank recently approved a Rs 1,540 crore loan for the 'punjab Rural Water and Sanitation Sector Improvement Project' to help the state improve its water and sanitation services and also reduce open...

-NDTV There is the reality of a farmer's suicide and then there are versions of this reality. Whether you choose to accept the farmer's context of poverty, debt and extreme risk, or deny it, often depends on the class and profession you belong to. Fields pockmarked with brown mounds create a surreal setting. At least nine suicides by farmers have been linked to the crisis in West Bengal's potato belt. Farmers have...

-The Hindu Business Line This is result of lacklustre credit growth to India Inc and tough priority sector lending norms Credit growth in the banking system continues to languish below the 10 per cent mark, far lower than the 14 per cent seen a year back. But there is one segment that has managed to grow faster than last year - loans to the agriculture sector. These grew 16.5 per cent in...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Changiram, a farmer from Kota's Darbheeji village, had sown his four-hectare land with wheat, investing around Rs 80,000 in seeds, fertilizers and labour. He expected to earn around Rs 4 lakh. But unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March damaged more than 70% of his crop, leaving him insolvent and staring at a bleak future. Changiram's plight mirrors that of tens of thousands of farmers across the...