-Down to Earth Rural women in Uttar Pradesh join hands to end gender bias in agriculture and claim joint ownership of land Breaking the stereotype of rural women, 39-year-old Suresho Saini proudly drives a tractor to plough 1.6 hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Rahimpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district. The plot belongs exclusively to her. "Women working in agricultural fields are a common sight in India; yet when we think...

-The Hindustan Times   Three NDA ministries are trying to pull the UPA's signature project, Aadhaar, in different directions, threatening to further slow down the plan to give all residents a unique identity number (UID). Sources told HT that three ministries - home, planning and information technology - were preparing to move the cabinet with their own plans for Aadhaar launched by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. Aadhaar numbers have already been generated for 640...

-The Financial Express Unless we get it right on the markets front, including opening up of exports, farmers cannot get their full due One of the key objectives of agricultural price policy in India is to ensure that agriculture remains a remunerative occupation so that farmers are incentivised to adopt modern technologies that help raise productivity and overall production of various crops in the country broadly in line with the emerging demand...

-Down to Earth   It was early June. Jaspal Ram of Lehra Turkot in district Bathinda of Punjab was busy in his field putting gunny bags filled with mud on a plank of wood trailing his tractor. After sometime, he adds another row of gunny bags to add weight. On being asked what he was doing, Jaspal replies, "I'm levelling my field. A lot of water is lost if the paddy fields...

-The Indian Express Healing the sugar sector and curbing inflation need brave reform. The first month of great expectations is over. But no magic is possible in such a short period of time. The treasury is scraping the bottom of the barrel, and reviving growth calls for herculean efforts to put the economy back on the rails. Meanwhile, fears of an impending failure of the monsoon have spiked inflation, which is at...