-The Times of India CHENNAI: Tribals of Kalrayan Hills and Jawad Hills in Vellore district are called 'silent woodcutters' — and not for nothing. They are masters of art of tree felling. They can trek, cut trees with barely any noise and bear away the logs on their heads in a matter of hours. It is for this skill that they are in great demand among red sanders mafia, centred in the...

-The Indian Express Over nine years after the Supreme Court asked all states and the Centre to bring in reforms to make the police forces more people-centric than ruler-centric, not much has changed on the ground. Few weeks back, following a spate of crimes against women and children in the city, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “Modi-ji, please give up your stubborn attitude and let’s work together. Give police and ACB...

-Hindustan Times Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government will prepare a legal framework for leasing land for agriculture that would not put the land owner at a disadvantage but will provide rights to the lease holder, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday. Chouhan was addressing the media at the conclusion of an exercise launched by the state government to assess the ground situation against the backdrop of the farming crisis. He said that...

-The New Indian Express CHENNAI: Five years ago, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had put an indefinite moratorium on the commercial cropping of Monsanto’s Bt Brinjal. However now, the Centre is considering commercial cultivation of a genetically modified hybrid variety of mustard. Following news reports on the move of the application for approval of GM Mustard to the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee in the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change...

-Livemint.com India’s agricultural growth rate has hovered around 2-3% annually, when in fact it should be at least 5% India’s agriculture became moribund decades ago, and shows no sign of uplift for the long haul. Indeed, the rain gods have played havoc with Indian farmers. But not just the gods, Indian states have done precious little to tackle the problem head-on. The government’s solution is to give financial sops to farmers...