-The Hindu Business Line At an organic market in Odisha, middle-class consumers get to interact with the producers of their food and appreciate traditional knowledge systems One Sunday morning in January, I visited an organic produce market located amidst dense bougainvillea creepers and rows of trees, on the grounds of the six-decade-old Christian Hospital in Bissamcuttack, a town in western Odisha’s Rayagada district. In policy and public imagination, Odisha, particularly its western districts...

-The New Indian Express BHAWANIPATNA: Cotton will be raised on 55,000 hectares (ha) of land in the current kharif season across KALAHANDI, one of the major cotton growing districts in the State. With weather being conducive, sowing of cotton seeds has been completed on 45,550 ha and by next week, coverage will exceed the targeted area, said agriculture officials. Each hectare gives a yield of eight to 10 quintals. KALAHANDI district contributes...

-The New Indian Express CUTTACK: In a bid to revive the traditional farming, which is now on the verge of extinction, the State government has decided to launch Paramparagata Krushi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) in 10 districts from the ensuing Kharif season.   The scheme funded by the Centre and the State Government on 60:40 ratio will promote sustainable agriculture through organic method in Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Kandhamal, Koraput, Rayagada...

-The Hindu Ministry report names groups opposed to mining and sale of tribal land The Home Ministry has said in its annual report that at least two civil rights groups working for tribal people in Odisha and Jharkhand were allegedly acting as a front organisation for the Maoists and were using “displacement of local communities” as their main plank. The Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS) in Odisha and the Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan...

-The New Indian Express BHAWANIPATNA: More than 60 per cent of cultivable land lies infertile in KALAHANDI district. Rain has been playing hide and seek year after year pushing small and marginal farmers to the brink. On the irrigation front too, Indravati project has failed to provide succour. Nearly 63 per cent of the district’s population lives below the poverty line. A rough estimate reveals that 30,000 people from 10,000 families migrate...