-Deccan Herald Twenty years, 35 villages and over 10 lakh surviving trees. Harshavardhan Sheelavant narrates a community initiative in Dharwad district that has converted hundreds of acres of fallow land into green orchards and transformed the lives of farmers. It was another monsoon day without rains. But the dry spell didn’t quench the spirit of residents of Belligatti village in Dharwad district who assembled near a small hillock on the outskirts of...

-IANS/United Nations The country ranked 80 among 133 developing countries on percentage of households with internet in 2014 India's global position in broadband penetration dropped from 125 in 2013 to 131 in 2014 out of 189 countries, according to the State of Broadband report by the United Nations. The UN Broadband Commission's report said 57% of the world's people remain offline and unable to take advantage of the enormous economic and social benefits...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Air pollution may be posing a rising health risk in India as the number of cases of acute respiratory infection have risen by 5 million since 2012 even though deaths have declined in the same period, government data released on Tuesday evening show. Cases of ARI have been rising even before 2012 though deaths began to decline since that year. The government report notes the strong...

-Deccan Herald MoF wants more transparency and public involvement For the first time, the government has decided to go for crowdsourcing in the Budget-making exercise and invited suggestions from the public for India’s Budget to be presented in February-March next year. The step has been taken to infuse more transparency into the Budget-making and increase people‘s participation in the mammoth exercise. “In order to infuse more transparency into the Budget-making exercise and to have...

-The Hindu Business Line Recently, the Telangana Agricultural Advisory Forum, consisting of a few university professors and scientists, deliberated on the causes and consequences of the drought and farmer ‘suicides’ in the State. The unofficial number of suicides attributed to farm families is 1,152. An inquiry into some of the recent suicides reveals an interesting picture. The farmers were not indebted to cooperative credit societies or commercial banks. The case of a...