-The Hindu   While migrant labourers see price rise as their primary concern, they still rate caste and religion as determining factors in their voting decision After the rural poor, farmers and the urban Middle Class, political parties are now seeking to make a vote bank out of migrant manufacturing labourers. The Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto promises the concept of "Industry Family" between workers and factory owners, but does not elaborate on...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: A German researcher's study of the dying Yamuna is an interesting take on Delhi's aspirations to be a 'world class city' vis-a-vis its utter failure in conserving the river. The study talks about Delhi's constant obsession with beautifying and developing Delhi's riverfront and how this has ironically meant nothing but further deterioration of the riparian ecology. Titled 'Bourgeois Environmentalism and the Reclamation of Yamuna's Floodplain...

-The Financial Express   It is the urban affluent and upper Middle Class which is gradually warming up to the concept of branded rice. Pune: The Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) is promoting rice varieties grown in the Vidarbha region under the 'Maharice' brand. In a pilot project, it recently sold around 450 quintals of such varieties and plans to sell around 1,000 tonne of the brand in one year, senior officials...

-NewsMobile.in   Suicide rates in India are among the highest in the world. With 187,000 suicides per year, one-fifth of all global suicides occur in India. Farmer suicides are often reported in the media and are subject to a great deal of political debate. A recent study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine indicated farmer suicides might be disproportionate to the population as whole, reporting rural suicide rates were twice...

-News-Medical.net   A new study has found that India's shocking rates of suicide are highest in areas with the most debt-ridden farmers who are clinging to tiny smallholdings - less than one hectare - and trying to grow 'cash crops', such as cotton and coffee, that are highly susceptible to global price fluctuations. The research supports a range of previous case studies that point to a crisis in key areas of India's agriculture...