-Down to Earth None of the 30 low and middle-income countries analysed met the standards of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women In what could be a wake-up call to global conservation efforts, a new report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) says that legal protections for indigenous and rural women to own and manage property are missing in India and 29 other...

-The Indian Express As the Modi government completes three years, here are three potentially game-changing steps it could now take to harness the sector’s unrealised potential Amidst the predictable tidal wave of opinion pieces to mark the Narendra Modi government’s third anniversary, one little event last week squeezed its way into the inside pages of a few newspapers. This was a call for a “farm strike” in Maharashtra from June 1,...

-The Indian Express The total agricultural land has also dipped by 1.18 per cent to 1.97 crore hectares of land. Mumbai: Even as clamour for farm loan waiver grows to afford temporary relief to farmers amid volatility in commodity prices and poor returns from farm produce, the state is facing a problem of increased fragmentation of agricultural land. Smaller plots not just bring down agricultural productivity, but also affects farmers’ economies...

-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...

-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...