Tribal-dominated Raygada district in Orissa on Wednesday became the first district in the country to have biometric rations cards and bar-coded ration cards for its million plus population. Designed jointly by the state government and the World Food Programme (WFP), the hi-tech biometric registration system aims to ensure that subsidised food goes only to those entitled to it. The district has been chosen as a pilot district by the World Food...

The Central Government has consented for setting up of International Millet and Wheat Research Centre at Khamaria near Jabalpur. This Research Centre will be set up with cooperation of Mexico. Here research will be conducted for producing hybrid quality seeds of Millets and Wheat. In view of the dwindling wheat production because of the increase in global temperature, the centre will research for producing hybrid quality millet and wheat seeds...

Governor M..H. Farook today declared eight more districts as drought-hit, bringing the entire state in the parched bracket ahead of a central team visit. With this, the memorandum of demands to be forwarded to the Union government, seeking financial assistance to mitigate the effects of drought, will be redesigned. It is now pegged at around Rs 3,000 crore against the earlier Rs 2,157 crore. An eight-member central team, led by managing director...

The farming community has welcomed chief minister M Karunanidhi's promise to supply free motors to small farmers. Cauvery Delta Farmers' Welfare Association secretary, S Ranganathan, said, "We appreciate the chief minister's gesture. I request the government to give submersible motors instead of mono-block ones. Also, a majority of small and marginal farmers don't have power connection. The state should look at the possibility of providing motors and power connections to...

Meritorious students from 27 districts to be covered this financial year Monthly pension of freedom fighters enhanced from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 8,000 The Assam government will provide scholarships of Rs. 2,000 each to 2 lakh meritorious students belonging to tea-tribe communities, the Scheduled Tribes, the Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, as well as other communities living in the border areas, chars (sand isles of the Brahmaputra river) and other economically and...