-The Hindustan Times The smog that nearly choked Delhi in November was caused due to the burning of post-harvest rice stalks in Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh. Every year, rice is harvested using combine harvesters, which leaves a residue in the field. Earlier, harvesting was done by hand and the people who worked on the fields would take out the stalks and use them as food for animals. This practice is...

-The Hindustan Times After a lull, the naxalites struck in Gadchiroli again. On late Tuesday night, the naxalites killed a villager on pretext of his being a police informer in Motala-Tekdi village near Sironcha bordering Andhra Pradesh.   According to reports reaching here, a gang of 10-15 armed Maoists stormed the Motala-Tekdi village and enquired about Narayan Srirangi (33) who was at home. They armed naxals went to his home, dragged him...

-The Hindustan Times A farmer's wife's suicide, another farmer's attempt to end his life, police lathicharge and farmers continuing agitation against land acquisition for a thermal power plant has made Katni a political hotbed.   The BJP and the Congress have locked horns over the development and JD (U) is trying to consolidate its position over the issue. The impact of the farmers' agitation against land acquisition for Welspun Energy Madhya Pradesh...

-The Hindustan Times Katni land acquisition row turned ugly on Tuesday (Diwali), with a woman fatally immolating herself after alleged threats from the administration to vacate her agricultural land to facilitate its acquisition for a thermal power plant in Katni district, more than 450 kilometres north east of Bhopal. The villagers reportedly staged a dharna with the woman's body refusing to cremate it until the guilty are punished and land acquisition process...

-The Hindustan Times India's food problem is bifocal. A fast growing democracy cannot continue to live with any more deaths due to hunger and malnutrition. Simultaneously, it has to resolve the problem of meeting the rapidly rising food needs of a growing economy or what is called food inflation, basically an inability to grow and deliver food adequately and efficiently to meet the rising and diversifying demand. Indians are good demand modelers....