-Reuters   PERLE: As a shiny red harvester bounces across the black earth into the first row of sugar cane, excited schoolchildren run after it and several dozen men stand gaping in the wake of its swift progress. It's the first time that Perle, a village on the banks of the Krishna river in Maharashtra state, has seen a machine used for cutting the tough cane. "This machine will harvest my entire field today,"...

Consumers may have to pay substantially more for pulses, oilseed, and rice in the coming months if the government accepts the recommendations of an expert panel to increase farm-gate price of these commodities by up to 30%, further stoking food inflation. The Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), under the ministry of agriculture, has recommended a 25% rise in the floor price of cotton, 16% rise in paddy, 30% rise...

-The Hindu The Maharashtra government-appointed two-member Adarsh judicial commission has concluded that the land where the Adarsh building was constructed belongs to the government. It refuted the Ministry of Defence's claim over the land and concluded that the land was not reserved for Kargil war heroes and their families. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday tabled the commission's final report on title and reservation of the land in question before the Assembly....

-The Times of India The Maharashtra government is under the scanner for lack of transparency in facilitating planned hill city of Lavasa in state's Pune district. The CAG report has slammed the state "for failing to adhere to regulations, amending existing laws for the project, disturbing the already ecologically fragile environment and violating green norms''. "The project seems to be driven by private interest and not by public interest," the report said. The...

A healthcare model relying mainly on people from within the community to provide care is reaping success One of India’s most backward districts and Maharashtra’s worst ranked in human development indicators, Gadchiroli, today finds itself at the forefront of a healthcare revolution that can potentially save millions of infant lives and help India rapidly reduce her abysmal infant mortality rate (IMR). Under the aegis of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), India...