-The Hindu This is the fourth time the U.S. government is taking up the issue of strictures against NGOs in the past couple of weeks. Accusing the government’s actions to regulate Non-Governmental Organisations including the Ford Foundation and Greenpeace International of having a “chilling effect” on civil society, U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma, said that India and the U.S. must find an understanding over the issue. “I read with some concern...

-The Economic Times With reports of groundwater level going down in Punjab and Haryana, considered the rice bowl of India, scientists and analysts suggest its cultivation be shifted to eastern states which have better water resources. They say Punjab and Haryana should focus on basmati rice, which is largely exported, and the eastern states should produce non-basmati varieties for meeting the domestic demand. Talking to ET, Dr Swapan Kumar Dutta, deputy director general...

The government has decided to throw its might behind private purchases of farm land overseas to ensure food security for India.  The agriculture ministry has sought views from other ministries on an institutional mechanism to extend sovereign support to India Inc's acquisition of farm land abroad that could include guaranteed buyback of harvest from the cultivation overseas.  Agriculture secretary PK Basu said that the proposal is in a nascent stage. "We had...

-The Hindu The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has sent notice to the Director-General of Police (DGP) and the Home Secretary of Tamil Nadu demanding that they furnish all details about the need for opening fire at Dalits in three places – Paramakudi, Ilayangudi in Sivaganga district and Madurai – on the same day on September 11. Speaking to The Hindu over phone on Tuesday from New Delhi, Latha...

One more biodiversity project at Sindhudurg in Malvan, Maharastra The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has sanctioned a community-based natural resource management and mangrove conservation project in Godavari estuary, Andhra Pradesh, similar to the Gulf of Mannar Marine Conservation Project in Tamil Nadu. Speaking to The Hindu, Doley Tshering, Regional Technical Specialist, Ecosystems and Natural Resources, Regional Centre in Bangkok for Asia and the Pacific countries, who visited here recently, said...