-Economic and Political Weekly A categorical distinction is facing rough weather--that between urban and rural. If we take just agriculture, there is so much of the outside world that comes in not just as external markets but as external inputs. Further, many of our villages barely qualify as rural if we were to take occupation alone. So the earlier line that separated the farmer from the worker in towns is slowly...

-PTI Kolkata: With child labour decreasing at a dismal rate of only 2.2 per cent per year, it would take more than a century to end the menace, a report said on Thursday. An analysis of census data by non-governmental organisation CRY (Child Rights and You) has revealed that child labour has been decreasing at a mere 2.2 per cent per year over the last decade, contrary to popular perception of its...

-The Economic Times Kolkata: Paddy farmers in the country may have to opt for community nurseries and direct seeding in case of insufficient rains by June 15, said Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI). Monsoon rains, which started a little late in Kerala on June 5, are yet to arrive in eastern India, the main area for rice cultivation. To review the crop situation, a team from the agriculture ministry will meet agricultural...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Greenpeace India will meet representatives of different political parties and raise the issue of fundamental rights, after the government suspended its FCRA registration and blocked its domestic and international bank accounts. Greenpeace India campaigner Priya Pillai said the organization will speak to all the political parties to stand up and protect the fundamental rights. Pillai was recently "offloaded" at Delhi airport from a flight to London where she was scheduled...

-ANI Greening the barren land in Jharkhand and West Bengal Deoghar: Standing amid the road in Kasuadi village in Jharkhand, Deevani Mahato looks intently towards the contrasting landscape stretching across on both sides of the road. Wet green fields of wheat, mustard and grams, separated by the bunds of mud, cover the land on one side. Barren tracts of red soil full of dry bushes and stones stretch on the other. "By next...