-The Hindu   Whatever be the crop, farmers need guidance at the right time for harvesting a good yield. Right from availability of good seedlings, pest management strategies, regular visits to the plantation sites by experts and sourcing a good market for the produce are not only a farmer's tasks but also involve the experts dealing in the particular area. "The job becomes more challenging when one has to work among tribals and...

-The Telegraph     MANGALORE: Santosh Menezes is eager to vote. Like many in his age group he loves cricket and idolises Tendulkar, Dhoni and Yuvraj. But unlike the others, he cannot communicate or move about. Bedridden since birth, the 24-year-old will have to be carried by his parents to the polling booth on April 17. Santosh, who lives in Kokkada village in Belthangady taluk, some 70km from Mangalore city, is among the 6,000 victims...

-The Business Standard     Institutions such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) are considered the panacea of all ills that developing countries like India face. Although the amount of money these institutions lend is small, their influence on the economy is high. They continue to be the benchmark for social and environmental policies, good governance, climate change, corruption and so on. A look at some of the reports of these...

-Women's Feature Service   For tribal communities, the forest has traditionally been their habitat, their source of income and their nutritional lifeline. So protection of the green cover and ready access to forest produce are issues that are connected with their survival. In India, while The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, recognises the rights of forest-dwellers over land and other resources, in reality there...

-The Business Standard To get priority under CSR, new policy envisages major role for private sector The government has decided to accord agro forestry equal status with agriculture by setting up a national-level board to promote national agro forestry policy. Besides agro forestry is proposed to be treated as priority area under Corporate Social Responsibility programmes (CSR) and thus the policy envisages a major role for the private sector. To this effect a...