-Economic and Political Weekly There has been a major change in the composition and mix of the cattle population in India. The proportion of male cattle has declined sharply as farmers do not fi nd it worthwhile to maintain bullocks to plough holdings that are becoming smaller and smaller. The composition of the milch cattle population too is changing. The proportion of the indigenous breed is falling and that of the...

-Business Standard State governments granted 401 reconnaissance permits and 920 prospecting licences between November 2007 and December 2014 Only one-fourth of companies with reconnaissance permits or prospecting licences have submitted mineral exploration data to the government in the last seven years, according to the ministry of mines. State governments granted 401 reconnaissance permits and 920 prospecting licences between November 2007 and December 2014. Of these, 186 holders of reconnaissance permits and 151 prospecting...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In an attempt to placate the belligerent opposition over the contentious Land bill, the government is weighing the option of incorporating new provisions to protect agricultural Land. According to indications, the changes could include largely exempting acquisition of irrigated multi-cropped Land for developing industrial corridors or industrial hubs, building dams etc. Sources said the government is in favour of acquisition of such Land only in 'extreme conditions'...

-The Hindu A young girl in Jharkhand committed suicide because her father refused to build a toilet for her. When will the Indian male’s insensitivity to women’s basic needs change? Indian men urgently need basic ethical education. Since the 19th century, women’s education has been a progressive obsession with enlightened Indian social reformers. Although much remains to be done to get anywhere close to equal access to education for the genders, there...

-Scroll.in Thanks to the law, workers have built roads where there were none, replaced scrubLands with forests, levelled Lands and made them cultivable. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act envisages that the works undertaken under it will strengthen natural resource management and address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion, thereby encouraging sustainable development. However, the fact that it is not simply a work creation programme but...