-The New Indian Express KOCHI: Questioning the Green Revolution (GR) is like blasphemy in mainstream agricultural discourses. But, plant scientist-turned farmer Dr Debal Deb, an atheist by choice and seed conservationist by vocation, dares to question the very basics of the Green Revolution, and rips down the tall claims of its proponents. Delivering a lecture on ‘A Journey Towards Ecotopia,’ at the Renewal Centre here on Saturday, Dr Deb held the Green...

-Livemint.com How farmers in chronically drought-prone Bundelkhand made the rational choices to improve their lot and yet ended up in a debt trap Banda/New Delhi: “I have made up my mind. I cannot repay my loans. I cannot free my Land. I will die,” Ram Bahadur Singh said, with a casual chuckle. The neighbours seated around did not react; after all, this was not the first time that the 52-year-old from...

Social justice is one of the basic pillars of democracy. But when it comes to livelihood security and socio-economic status of various communities in rural areas, persons belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) lag far behind the upper caste population. This has been revealed in a recent National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report entitled: Employment and Unemployment Situation among Social Groups in India...

-IANS In the wake of the strong 7.9 magnitude earthquake that killed over a 1,500 people in Nepal and left a swathe of devastation in the northern Himalayas on Saturday, experts said a temblor of equal intensity is "overdue in northern India." "An earthquake of the same magnitude is overdue. That may happen either today or 50 years from now... in the region of the Kashmir, Himachal, Punjab and Uttrakhand Himalyas. Seismic...

-The Indian Express Files already piled up on the Chief Information Commissioner’s desk could take up to 2020 to clear. Delay in appointing the CIC hurts the objectives of both the RTI Act and the PM’s pledge of good governance. The RTI Act, 2005 provided for a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions to deal with appeals and complaints against public authorities. Section 12 of the RTI Act states, “The Central...