-The Times of India New Delhi: In a sign of the strength of India's public research institutions, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) released seven new varieties of field crops including wheat, rice, chickpea, pigeon pea and mustard and identified 11 varieties of high-yielding agricultural and horticultural produce during 2015. All these varieties are not just resilient to several biotic (living organism like pests and insects) and abiotic (nonliving factors like light, temperature...

-The Indian Express Over 1,100 farmers had committed suicide in eight districts of Marathwada in 2015. Pune: The “all-out” efforts — as repeatedly being claimed by the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra Government — to reduce the constantly rising suicide rates of distressed farmers in Marathwada seem to be yielding little results. The rate of suicides in Marathwada just does not seem to slow down. In the first month of this year, as...

-The Hindu Business Line It has worked as a rural safety net. But the Centre has other budgetary priorities A decade after the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme came into force, the NDA government has come around to accepting its usefulness — and that, in a difficult agriculture year. Last February, the Prime Minister disparaged the programme for merely digging pits. But only a few days ago, the finance minister...

-Hindustan Times Ranchi: Green cover and wildlife population in Jharkhand’s sanctuaries are under threat from unchecked stone quarries, tree felling and construction work in the buffer zones of the wildlife reserves in the state. With the state government yet to send proposals to the Centre to declare 10 of the 11 wildlife sanctuaries as ecologically sensitive zones (ESZs), the threat has increased, say conversationalists and wildlife experts. Until now, only the Dalma wildlife...

-The Indian Express Ramendra Singh tells five stories of Bundelkhand’s daily battles The first month of 2016 had top politicians, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, make a beeline for Bundelkhand. But stuck between photo-ops and political blamegame are lives stifled by recurring droughts, crop failures, and lack of jobs. Ramendra Singh tells five stories of Bundelkhand’s daily battles Please click here to read more. ...