-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: The unprecedented drought in 9 states — at the beginning of April itself — poses the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who recently launched several farmer-centric initiatives to ensure drought-proof agriculture in a bid to provide fresh impetus to the economy. As per a note submitted to the Prime Minister by a panel of secretaries, only 45 per cent area is irrigated in the...

-TheBetterIndia.com/ Women's Feature Service Maharashtra: Many women in Mokhada tehsil of Maharashtra have donned the role of social workers and they are visiting one village after the other, silently campaigning for their rightful share of water. As one starts trekking the mountainous countryside with Sangeeta, Heera, Savita, Gangu and Pushpa, one can clearly discern the heady union of life and a strong sense of purpose among these energetic adivasi (tribal) women. For...

-PTI The National Green Tribunal has appointed a local commissioner to inspect the premises of beverages major Coca Cola's Hapur plant in Uttar Pradesh and probe whether it was discharging effluents into a nearby pond. The green panel directed Coca-Cola to pay Rs 20,000 as fees to the court commissioner and asked him to videograph the work done, and file his report. "Considering the gravity of the allegations, made against each other and...

-The Indian Express Substantial number of inteRest subvention scheme loans are diverted to non-agricultural uses. Government must switch to an income-support subsidy regime The Union budget for 2016-17 has provisioned Rs 15,000 crore on account of inteRest subvention for short-term agricultural credit, up by Rs 2,000 crore over the revised estimate for FY16. The mere shifting of this line item from the department of financial services to the department of agriculture...

-Outlook Vigorous action can nullify the reasons that conspire to keep Dalits out of newsrooms In the ’50s, a foreign correspondent wrote to a renowned south Indian English daily, seeking comments on alleged discrimination against non-Brahmin journalists on its staff. Discrimination was out of the question, the paper clarified, as it never hired a non-Brahmin!  Over  60 years later, the media landscape has altered but the Indian newsroom is still the sanctuary...