-The Business Standard A consortium of some farmers organisation from Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have urged the government to remove all hindrances in the path of technological advancement of Indian farming and let the farmers make their own choice of choosing high-yielding seeds like genetically modified (GM) ones. The farmers leaders who have been camping in Delhi for the last few days met Parliamentarians and government officials to...

-Frontline Maharashtra’s sugarcane farmers are a worried lot as the State government backs out from the sugar pricing process.  Sangli & Kolhapur: KOLHAPUR and Sangli districts in Maharashtra form the heartland of Indian sugar industry. This time of year is generally the busiest, with itinerant labourers cutting sugarcane and loading it on to tractors that roar off to the more than 20 sugar factories in the two districts. In November and December,...

-The Hindustan Times The Aadhaar-linked direct cash transfer scheme, which will be launched on January 1, runs the risk of tripping in more than one-third of the 43 districts where less than 50% of the population has an Aadhaar number. This includes Maharashtra's Nandurbar district, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handed over the first unique identity number to Ranjana Sonawne of Tembli village in September 2010. Overall, about 55 million of 84 million...

-Pratirodh.com Hundreds of the victims of  failed 'cash transfer' experiment in Kotakism met the Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi where a three-day dharna began on Wednesday demanding a more inclusive 'Food Security Act'.   More than 1000 people from all over the country are participating in the dharna which has been organised by 'Right To Food Campaign'.   Victims of failed cash transfer experiment shared their experiences with the...

-Outlook The poverty ratio in Jharkhand declined to 39.1 per cent in 2009-10 from 45.3 per cent five years ago because of economic growth and poverty alleviation programmes, the government said today. "The percentage of people living below poverty line in Jharkhand has declined from 45.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 39.1 per cent in 2009-10. "In terms of number of poor, it has declined from 1.32 crore in 2004-05 to 1.26 crore...