-Economic and Political Weekly Much has been claimed on behalf of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act that has been enacted by Parliament, but the legislation has introduced a watered-down version of auctions, has many exceptions to legalise the old first-cum-firstserve approach, and ignores previous Supreme Court rulings on measures to ensure sustainable development. E A S Sarma (eassarma@gmail.com) is a former Union Power Secretary. With a brute majority in...

-Frontline NAIB SINGH hanged himself a fortnight ago in the land he had been tilling for five years at Bareh village in Mansa district of Punjab. He had hoped for a successful rabi wheat crop, but unseasonal rains reduced him to further penury. The 25-year-old left behind a debt burden of Rs.10 lakh for his family. His mother, Mahinder Kaur, does not know whether to mourn her son's death or lament...

-NDTV Lucknow: Unseasonal rain and hailstorm in March have brought Uttar Pradesh to the brink of an agrarian crisis, affecting 25 of the state's 80 districts. Crop losses have dealt a particularly severe blow to landless farmers, who are emerging the invisible casualties of the agrarian crisis. Unseasonal rain has destroyed crops on large tracts of farmland. And landless farmers, who usually till farmlands leased or Rented from landowners, fall through...

-The Hindu Business Line   Farmers across Uttar Pradesh and Punjab lament weather woes and lack of social security Consumers may be bracing themselves for rising prices of vegetables and fruits, but the unseasonal heavy showers and hailstorms through the first half of March have already dealt a significant blow to farmers across much of the northern, central and western belts. Agriculture Ministry estimates earlier this week showed that Rabi crops in about 181...

-The Times of India PUNE: Family physician Dr Kumar Mandhare has been practising for 27 years in Koregaon Park in Pune, treating a wide variety of patients. Over the last few years, however, he has observed a new set of patients - on whom once-effective antibiotics drugs don't work. He pegs their number at 30 to 40% of the patients he gets, usually people who have found a quick fix solution to...