-The Hindu Cyclonic storms on Tamil Nadu’s 1,076-km coastline are not unusual, and at least once in two years there is some disaster or the other. The common thread running through every such instance is that all claims of preparedness are invariably exposed as either hollow or woefully inadequate. The focus, as well as any claim to administrative efficiency, is solely on rescue and relief operations. What the government is able...

-The Tribune To ensure stable prices of pulses and attractive returns for producers, policies of domestic prices and tariffs should blend. Import duties must be calibrated with demand. As the Indian economy grows at a rate of 7 per cent plus, assuming low growth as an aberration, the food basket will diversify. Within grains, the movement will be to pulses as shown by the  expert group on pulse production. The yield and...

-PTI Bhubaneswar: With about 14 per cent less rainfall pushing the state into drought, Odisha government today decided to encourage farmers to go for non-paddy cultivation during the coming Rabi season to compensate for crop loss in Kharif season. "Since water levels at reservoirs have dropped due to deficient rainfall, farmers will be encouraged to grow non-paddy crops. Inputs will be provided to farmers by the government and we will inform all...

-The Pioneer Bhubaneswar: The increasing instances of farmers’ suicides due mainly to failure of crops and burden of loans incurred from different sources have brought traumatic shocks and a shattering blow to the farming community in Odisha and brazen shame to the present dispensation at the helm. It appears that the State administration is never worried and concerned about the agonies and tragedies of the poor cultivators. As reported, an astounding number...

-Hindustan Times Bettiah/Bagaha: Bihar’s Mandate 2015 has been billed as a choice between good governance and a return to ‘jungle raj’ (rule of the wild). But what matters most for the marginalised tribes in the state is going back to the days when they enjoyed their jungle rights. The 899 sq km Valmiki National Park along the Nepal border in West Champaran district is Bihar’s only tiger reserve. The fringes of this...