-PTI   Pro-farmer, tech-savvy reforms will made for the development of water resources in the 12th Five-Year plan, which begins next year, a member of the Planning Commission said here yesterday. The focus would be on technology to manage water resources, promote the use of recycled water among industries and pay per use, said Planning Commission Member Mihir Shah, who holds the charge of water in the commission. Technology would help both large...

-The Business Standard   The farmers in Halligudi of Mundargi taluk in Gadag district are firm on their stand to not part with their land to make way for the Posco steel plant. They have taken serious exception to industries minister Murugesh Nirani’s claim that farmers had volunteered to hand over land to KIADB in lieu of the compensation amount and employment, President of Mundaragi Taluk Abhivruddhi Horata Vedike Y R Goudar said no...

Land is contentious. With urbanisation and demand for non-agricultural use, coupled with lack of employment and skills for those in small-holder and subsistence-level agriculture, this is understandable. In western Europe, especially in Britain, and more especially in England, land markets were freed up before the Industrial Revolution and access to education and skills became more broad-based. We haven't introduced reforms that enable people to move out of agriculture, or diversify...

Even as the number on attacks RTI activists in the state have become frighteningly routine, political leaders who have come under the scanner, mostly from the ruling BJP, are still untouched. In the latest incident in which Porbandar-based advocate and social worker Bhagu Devani was stabbed on last Friday, police have arrested Laku Odedara, brother of former Porbandar Nagarpalika president Vikram Odedara, along with three others but former Irrigation minister Babu...

So it's not going to be a normal monsoon . That's hardly surprising. Indian rainfall is erratic in four out of 10 years. About 80% of our land mass is highly vulnerable to drought, floods and cyclones. 50 million Indians are exposed to drought every year. The agriculture ministry says 68% of India's sown area is subject to drought in varying degrees. Annual average rainfall is 1,160 mm. However, 85% of...