-Down to Earth Rajasthan's livestock is facing a threat as grazing lands disappear and laws paralyse traditional economic incentives for keepers Livestock has sustained the people of Rajasthan during times of drought or when agriculture was unviable. State government data suggests 80 per cent of rural families in Rajasthan keep livestock in their households, and 35 per cent of the total income of small and marginal farmers comes from dairy and animal...

The India Country Report 2015 on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) comes at a time when the Union Budget 2015-16 allegedly cut expenditure on several social sector schemes and programmes. This year's MDG country report says that India will fail to achieve two important targets pertaining to reducing hunger and maternal mortality by 2015, among others. Released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the report says that India is...

-PTI Vadodara: The farmers in the country can do away with their dependence on conventional forms of energy for operating pumps to water their fields as a private company has come up with a solar-energy operated pump, which will also reduce environment pollution. ABB India has developed a solar-powered water pump for irrigating crops with rural India facing problems in the supply of electricity and availability of diesel for operating gensets. "ABB solar...

-Business Standard Upward trend continues after base year revision, mainly because of high food prices India's Consumer Price Index (CPI) -based inflation rose to 5.37 per cent in February, from 5.19 per cent the previous month, mainly because of high food prices. After a revision in base year in December, from 2010 to 2012, this was a third straight month to see an upward trend in the rate of retail inflation. The rate...

-PTI Maharashtra has reported 135 cases of farmers' suicide in the Aurangabad division during a short period of the first 58 days in 2015 due to successive natural calamities and scarcity situation. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundaria also said: "In the last three years i.e. 2012, 2013 and 2014, there were 662 cases of farmers' suicide which were eligible for compensation of...