-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government's move to give parliamentarians a Rs 30 lakh hike in election expenses appears as misplaced generosity with 30% MPs spending less than half of their funds. Election expense declarations, analyzed by Association for Democratic Reforms, reveals that the average amount of money spent by 437 MPs in the Lok Sabha elections 2009 is only about Rs 14.62 lakh or 59% of the expense limit....

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The UPA has hiked wages for national job scheme workers by 4-18 per cent in what appears to be a "parting gift" before the elections, but failed to match "arbitrary" revisions in minimum wages for agricultural labourers in 12 states, including Bengal. According to the new wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, an MGNREGA labourer in Haryana will get Rs 236 a day, the...

As the challenge of global warming looms large, the importance of climate resilient agriculture (CRA) gets recognized by both scientific and farming communities. Countries like India are expected to be intensely affected by climate change since majority of the population is primarily dependent on agriculture for livelihood. CRA, encompassing adaptation and mitigation strategies and the effective use of biodiversity at all levels-genes, species and ecosystems-should, therefore, be India's response towards...

-DailyMail.co.uk It's the great gamechanger that didn't work. The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) launched in 1997 on the back of 72 lakh tonnes of foodgrain annually, with its focus on six crore of the nation's poorest. It was touted as the dawn of a new era for India's food security, but remains riddled with leaks that gobble up to half the foodgrain routed through it. Research conducted by Raghul Madhaiyan of the Department...

-Deccan Herald New Delhi: The decade-old mid-day meal scheme for primary school children, rolled out with the twin aims of fighting malnutrition and improving attendance by providing cooked food, still appears too little to fight the menace of malnutrition in many states, including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. A large number of elementary school children are suffering from "severe" malnutrition in as many as nine states, with the highest figure of...