-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The 2011 census brought Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan the ignominy of being the district with the lowest sex ratio of 837 girls per 1,000 boys among 33 districts of the state. Seven years on, the district is being hailed as a model with the sex ratio at birth (SRB) touching an impressive 955 girls per 1,000 boys. It is from here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will...

-The Hindu Rather than just increased budgetary outlays, farmers need plans that will rescue them from crop failure Similar to the last two Budgets, this year’s pro-agriculture intentions are palpable through increased outlays to the agricultural sector and initiation of various programmes. They seem impressive, but closer scrutiny shows that the measures may be of little help to stem the tide of agrarian distress. There are some real challenges confronting three...

-PTI The Punjab government had earlier faced the wrath of the tribunal for not taking effective steps to provide financial assistance and infrastructure facility to the farmers to encourage them not to burn agricultural residue. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday directed Delhi and four northern states to formulate a comprehensive policy for providing incentives and infrastructural assistance to farmers to stop them from burning crop residue to prevent air pollution. The...

-PTI The Centre will consult state governments early next month to set up a mechanism for protecting farmers' income when market prices fall below the minimum support price (MSP), Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak said today. A model law is also being prepared to ensure tenant cultivators get institutional credit and interest subsidy, he added. "We will call a meeting of state governments early next month to discuss a mechanism so that farmers...

-The Financial Express The scheme, part-funded by the World Bank, aims at pushing recharge of groundwater sources and efficient use at the local level. Rapidly-depleting groundwater in nearly a third of the blocks that were assessed in a study by the Central Ground Water Board (CWGB) has caused, The Times of India reports, the Centre to put the Rs 6,000-crore Atal Bhujal Yojana on fast-track. The scheme, part-funded by the World Bank,...