Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) is one of India’s largest grass-roots initiatives for Water and livelihood security, working with its partners on a million acres of land across 72 of India’s most backward districts, mainly in the central Indian Adivasi belt. SPS takes inspiration from the life and work of Baba Amte (our Pramukh Sahayogi) who rejected charity and successfully empowered even the most challenged. SPS is headquartered in a drought-prone,...

-The Hindu   96 agriculture students are taking part in Polika-2014 in Wayanad district SULTHAN BATHERY (Kerala): They conducted a participatory appraisal after visiting farmers' houses in the Sulthan Bathery grama panchayat and an assessment of the resources of the community. These 96 final-semester B.Sc. Agriculture (Honours) students, including 21 boys and 75 girls, of the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, under the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), are attending Polika-2014. The 10-day village stay programme...

-The Hindustan Times     On the first day on his job, rural development minister Gopinath Munde hinted that the Modi government could go for restructuring of the rural job scheme NREGA.   He also defended the land acquisition bill saying it was not against industrialisation and urbanization.   Talking to reporters after taking charge on Tuesday, he said he liked NREGA but it needed changes. "This scheme is best for villages. Basically, people get employment, but proper...

The FMP is an effort to celebrate the romance of journalism. Journalistic collectives have so far either been Watering holes or trade unions. It is an organization dedicated to media freedom and quality journalism. Editors have a guild. Owners, whether of newspapers or TV channels have associations to lobby their interests. But there is no association that cuts across mediums to champion issues of professional interest to journalists. FMP is...

-The Hindu   UDHAGAMANDALAM: The Union government favours a participatory approach to protecting natural resources, especially the precious soil and Water, A.K. Sikka, Deputy Director-General (National Resource Management), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), said on Monday. He was inaugurating a six-day advanced training programme on planning and design of engineering structures in the Watershed management programme organised by the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute (CSWRTI) under the aegis...