-The Indian Express Maharashtra’s dairies are experiencing the lagged effect of two years of drought now Pune: Dairies in Maharashtra have been witness to an unusual phenomenon of late. The winter months are when milk production and procurement rises, peaking in January. But this time round, shortages have developed precisely in the ‘flush’ period from September to March, when more milk naturally flows from the udders of animals. “We could procure only...

-The Hindu Business Line Superfood moringa is proving to be a boon for subsistence farmers Names like PKM 2, Bhagya KDM 1, Rohit 1, Siddhi Vinayaka.... may not ring a bell among urban readers, but those engaged in subsistence farming will recognise these as the high-yielding varieties of Moringa olifera (drumstick tree). This tree (called murungae in Tamil) has been around for ages, but ever since the world at large claimed moringa as...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh -- traditionally tagged as 'Bimaru' states -- have made major progress in urban municipal reforms in recent years, while Delhi has not submitted any claim of reforms. States such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, which have always performed better, lead from the front again in the assessment by the urban development ministry. The assessment is based...

-The Indian Express The GI tag is used to identify various kinds of goods including Darjeeling tea, Kanchipuram silk saree and Kolhapuri chappal. When Krishnakumar Tomar, one of the first to grow basmati in this fertile belt, harvested his crop 14 years back, he had no idea where to sell it. With no local takers for the aromatic paddy, the 40-year-old from Badi, which falls in Raisen district, was told he could...

-The Hindu Pune: In 2000, he led a campaign demanding entry for women into the Shani Shingnapur temple. The trail-blazing activism by rationalist firebrand Narendra Dabholkar, who was killed by right-wing elements, and his Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS) to combat the ban on women entering temples was a vital phase in the organisation’s untiring efforts to strive for gender equality in Maharashtra. While the struggle commenced with the usual raucous noises...