-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India's share in global floriculTure trade may not be significant but the country has, of late, shown enough potential to eventually Turn itself as a favourite destination of flower importers in near fuTure. Surprisingly, the small land-holding pattern, considered a handicap for the country's agriculTural production, comes as an advantage in floriculTure due to its 'low volume high value' character. Since the sector has huge export...

-Hindustan Times In Bollywood romcoms, mustard fields glowing iridescent yellow are an oft-used backdrop for romantic songs. Remember the iconic 1995 hit, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Mustard, as it were, is an onscreen metaphor for vigour and youthful passion. However, looked through a farm scientist’s lens, the traditional Indian mustard isn’t genetically very impressive. It is only half as robustly growing as its east European cousins. Low yields mean India has to...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after taking power in the Capital a year ago pledged support for people living in unauthorised colonies and slum clusters, adopting a strong stand against demolition of such strucTures without proper rehabilitation. But the Arvind Kejriwal-led government has failed to Turn around the fortunes of the residents of these bustling neighbourhoods, many of them with no legal electricity or water supply. Analysts say lack...

-Frontline.in An initiative focussed on Kerala’s development experience exposes a worrying trend of rising inequality and proposes a strategy for sustainable and equitable growth. THE fourth international Congress on Kerala Studies, organised by the A.K.G. Centre for Study and Research in Thiruvananthapuram on January 9-10, has generated much interest for its focus on a worrying new trend in Kerala’s development experience: rising inequality and marginalisation of large sections of people despite...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A 2012 law to protect children from sexual abuse is being used to target teen romance, a study of such cases in Delhi over the past three years suggests. The study by the National Law School, Bangalore, has shown that in 10 per cent of the cases filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, the accused was in a relationship with the victim. In another...