The state's rice bowl is left empty An unviable minimum support price (MSP) for rice has forced farmers in Andhra Pradesh to leave their lands fallow. The movement is spreading to other states. “Farming never pays” is a familiar slogan among agriculturists across the world, and especially so in India. Nevertheless, many continue to cultivate their fields year after year, barely eking out an existence, toiling in the hope that the tide...

Nearly five lakh college and university teachers are still waiting for arrears under the Sixth Pay Revision the human resource development ministry announced in December 2008 with retrospective effect from January 2006. Most states have implemented the revised package without paying the arrears as they are waiting for assistance from the ministry, which had told them it would bear 80 per cent of the additional cost for the first four years...

-The Telegraph   After Mahanadi, Brahmani and Baitarani are wreaking havoc and the two rivers have left as many as 1,114 villages marooned. Six choppers of the navy and air force were pressed into service for airdropping relief material in the flood-affected pockets. Two more helicopters are expected to reach by tomorrow to expedite the relief operation. “The next 36 hours will be crucial as the water level of the Brahmani is rising,” said...

-BBC   More than two million people have been affected by floods in India as torrential rains lash Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states. Heavy monsoon rains have been battering parts of India for the past fortnight. More than 80 people have died in flood-related incidents, and some areas have been cut off by rising waters. Heavy rains in Uttar Pradesh have triggered off house and wall collapses, and a flood alert has been...

-The Times of India   Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan Nilekani has said that the unique identity programme or 'Aadhaar' should not be viewed as "a technologically complicated and purposeless activity". "The programme has much wider and scalable applications for ensuring effective and efficient delivery of public distribution system (PDS) and welfare services," he said while delivering the inaugural speech at the launch of the Pune International Centre...