-The Hindu Popularly quoted figure of 28% is not accurate; here’s why Chennai: Go digital or else. Since demonetisation, the government has been sending out this stern message to citizens who are still wedded to cash transactions. But to go digital, a key prerequisite is access to the Internet. How many Indians have it? Official statistics suggest that the number is as high as 28% of the population. But as with most statistics, digging...

-The Indian Express Last week, the farmer distress reached Delhi, with a group of Tamil Nadu farmers starting a sit-in at Jantar Mantar. Nagapattinam: On January 1, R Panneerselvam stepped out of his home thrice to check on his wasted paddy crop on his 3-acre land. The final time, a tired Pannerselvam flopped down on a chair and asked his eldest son to fetch him tea from a nearby stall. By the...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: The Northeast has seen more than four-time jump in farmers' suicides from 21 in 2014 to 95 cases last year. The region also saw 105 suicides by agricultural workers last year, mostly in Assam and Tripura, revealed the report on suicides in the farming sector of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2015. Farmers' suicides have assumed serious proportions mostly in western and southern states. This rise in suicides in the...

-The Hindu Business line Farm output hit; water levels in reservoirs at their lowest; Kerala, Karnataka looking at cloud seeding Bengaluru/ Thiruvananthapuram: The near-normal monsoon in 2016 may have helped most parts of the country come out of two successive droughts and perhaps propel foodgrain output to a new high, but not in the South. The drought has extended its grip in the South, with the South-West monsoon falling significantly short and the...

-India Today Commonly grown in Assam, the Black Rice (Kala chavul) is an exotic variety with amazing nutritional parameters like anti-oxidant, minerals, carbohydrates and fibre but the growers lacked the market. Chandigarh: The northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim are a veritable goldmine of organic foodgrains, herbs, spices and fruits. Despite the uniqueness and amazing health benefits, these foodgrains and herbs remain confined to these states as...