-The Business Standard It is an inconvenient truth that the poorest people in India live in the country's richest forests. The management of this green wealth has not brought any benefits to the locals Forests have been blacked out in the economic assessment of the country. The Economic Survey does not even list forestry as a sector, for which accounts are prepared. Instead, it is lumped together with agriculture and fisheries. In...

-The Hindu     Interest subvention retained, rice storage exempt from service tax Lauding the "stellar performance" of the agriculture sector, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday announced a farm growth of 4.6 per cent in the current year, up from 3.1 per cent achieved during UPA-I. He said the government set an agriculture credit target of Rs. 8 lakh crore for 2014-15, against Rs.7.35 lakh crore expected this year. The interest subvention scheme for...

-Outlook For every rupee in government kitty, as much as one-fourth will come from market borrowing in 2014-15, lower than the current fiscal ending March 31. The government's dependence on debt has come down from 27 paise in the previous Budget to 25 paise in the coming year, reflecting ease of pressure on revenue collections. As per the proposals presented today by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the interim Budget, net borrowings of...

-The Hindu Rights may be self-evident and constitutionally secured; however, they do not automatically implement themselves In the last two years the highest courts in the country have responded to a mass call for more protection for women. Alongside, there have been many judgments from non-constitutional decision-making bodies like khap panchayats and kangaroo courts sanctioning violence against particular women or curtailing women's freedom in significant ways. Why is it that while there...

-Grain.org "We take care of the cow and the cow takes care of us," says Marayal, a farmer in Thalavady, Tamil Nadu. Her two cows produce 6 to 10 litres of milk a day, which she sells for 30-40 cents per litre. Across India, there are millions of backyard dairy farmers like Marayal. Each owning just one or two cows, these farmers supply millions more families and hundreds of thousands of informal...