-Business Standard The programme will cover both water-scarce and flood-affected areas in India Ahmedabad: Ahead of the monsoon, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will be reaching out to 100,000 villages with its water conservation programme. The Nabard will be working with villagers on better use of water for agriculture and household purposes.   Amid a drought-like situation in several areas, the Nabard targets to help farmers extend water availability and...

-Hindustan Times The slide in recruitment from what are considered premier technical institutes reflects the possible impact of the economic downturn in India as also globally One of every three IITians graduating this year either didn’t find a suitable job or wasn’t found suitable for a job through campus placement, official data show, pointing to shrinking employment opportunities for India’s large pool of engineering talent. Only 66% of those who made themselves available...

-Business Standard Activists, others question yield and bio-safety data; GM mustard can improve yields by 25-30% After many ifs and buts, the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) mustard seems to have reached a decisive phase after the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) recommended on Thursday that it be allowed.   The ministry of environment and forests will now decide on whether this herbicide-tolerant variety can become the first GM food crop to be...

-The Hindu ‘Historically disadvantaged groups most excluded from access to public goods’ Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims continue to be the worst-hit communities in terms of exclusion from access to public goods, according to the 2016 Indian Exclusion Report (IXR) released by the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) in New Delhi on Wednesday. “The 2016 Report reviews exclusion with respect to four public goods: pensions for the elderly, digital access, agricultural land, and legal...

-Frontline Cattle traders see a nexus between cow vigilantes and animal rights organisations in Delhi, where vigilantes unleashed violence in April. In the past year, 40,000 animals seized by them were not returned to the owners, and traders believe that they were sold. A PLANNED and brutal assault on cattle traders in Kalkaji in Delhi on April 22 by a mob of gau rakshaks (cow protectors) has brought to the fore...