-PTI Patchy monsoon has its shadow over onion cultivation with major producing regions in Maharashtra and Gujarat witnessing drop in sowing area of the key kitchen item almost by half. Decline in area would affect supply of onion during October-December period and could trigger its price rise in the domestic market. Onion is selling at Rs 10-15 a kg at present in retail in Delhi and other parts of the country. "Almost 50 per...

-The Hindu Literacy has helped people in the State maximise the benefits of the rural employment guarantee scheme Kerala’s achievements have long been celebrated by development economists — high literacy rates, including among girls, low infant mortality rates and so on. There has also been a spate of writings highlighting the ills of Kerala society. Critics have pointed to the high rates of suicides and feminists have also raised difficult questions. While...

-The United Nations A United Nations top official today called on academics to get involved in essential research to help reduce rural poverty and assist small-scale farmers as part of the global fight against hunger. “One of the great challenges we have today is to use academic knowledge to understand and improve the life of rural populations throughout the world,” said the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano...

-Business Today "I want it back," says Sharada Begum. The 67-year-old woman is a member of one of the 100 households of Raghubir Nagar, a resettlement colony in west Delhi, chosen to participate in a pilot scheme that aimed to turn the public distribution system (PDS) on its head. Through all of 2011, these households had Rs 1,000 transferred every month to a woman member's bank account in lieu of rice, wheat,...

-The Indian Express From Nariman Point to Tirupur, from broking firms to ancillary industries — as a two-part series in this newspaper has illustrated — the economy is seeing a steady contraction in employment opportunities. The economic and social cost is sobering but the UPA should also worry about the political implications. Lakhs of jobs are being lost when India is heading for a general election that could be decided primarily...