-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Do you know every time you buy diesel or petrol you pay six paise and four paise per litre respectively for proper toilet facilities at petrol pumps? Petroleum ministry officials and petrol pump owners confirmed that this provision exists for generating revenue for maintenance of toilets. However, the latter claimed that the monthly revenue is not enough to meet the requirement. The allotment condition for petrol pumps...

-The Hindu Fifty years since the Green Revolution, the architect of the reform highlights the crisis facing Indian agriculture today It is 11 years since agronomist M.S. Swaminathan handed over his recommendations for improving the state of agriculture in India to the former United Progressive Alliance government, at the height of the Vidarbha farmer suicides crisis, but they are still to be implemented. To address the agrarian crisis and farmers’ unrest across...

-The Hindu Gorakhpur offers the only tertiary care centre for Japanese Encephalitis with 100 dedicated beds. * What is Japanese Encephalitis? Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne viral infection of the brain. There is, however, a debate about the origin of the disease and whether it is enteroviruses — caused by virus found in pigs and birds. There is no cure for JE. * Why only Gorakhpur? While Gorakhpur has a considerable burden of disease,...

-The Indian Express The failure of populist rural credit schemes stems primarily from poor understanding of farm indebtedness in the first place. From the 1970s, a lot of private investment in tube-well irrigation, farm mechanisation and allied agricultural activities took place with bank credit support. After the establishment of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1982, institutional credit flows not only accelerated, but also exhibited diversification to fund livestock...

-Hindustan Times None of the states had 100% access to toilets. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar was in a spot on Tuesday when he claimed that rural areas in five states had become Open Defecation Free (ODF). But the findings of Swachh Survekshan, commissioned by the Union Drinking Water and Sanitation ministry, that he released, belied his claims. The survey conducted by the Quality Council of India (QCI) with 1.4 lakh households in 4626...