-The Hindu If drought is making many in Osmanabad struggle for survival, it is also boosting a 24-hour trade that thrives on scarcity Bharat Raut spends around Rs.800 a month on petrol — just to fetch water that belongs to him. So do a lot of others in Takwiki village in Osmanabad district in Marathwada. Almost every household in Takwiki (and other villages) has one member locked into a single task each...

-The Hindu As Marathwada’s groundwater table plummets to 500 ft, farmers here, as in other districts, are freely violating the law in a frantic bid to strike water. Mahadeo Mule has invested Rs. 1 lakh during the past five months to save his crops and livestock, drilling at five different points on his land, despite already having a borewell. He has also spent close to Rs. 35,000 on water from private...

-The Indian Express Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Tuesday tabled an irrigation Bill in the Assembly which seeks to make it compulsory for farmers to get a licence to draw water from canal or ground well beyond a certain limit and prescribes penal action, including imprisonment, against the errant farmers. The Bill also seeks to charge farmers for irrigation water reaching any cultivated land within 200 metres of a canal either by...

-Rising Kashmir Srinagar: The criterion for laborers getting wages with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Bandipora villages is not a job card but a rooster. “Even if you have worked efficiently, you will be paid wages only if you have a desi rooster to gift the officials,” locals from various Bandipora villages said. Alleging corruption in the release of funds, people from Zaban Chuntimulla said authorities were not releasing...

-The Hindu While there is reason to be proud of the progress in the production of wheat, rice, cereals and millets, the use of farmland for non-farm purposes is a cause for concern The year 2013 marks the 70th anniversary of the Bengal Famine which resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 to 3 million children, women and men during 1942-43. A constellation of factors led to this mega-tragedy, such as...