-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 Times of India 16 Lakh Dalit Leather Workers Depend On The Humble Cow For A Living. The Meat Industry Employs Many More. Every Year, India Exports Buff Worth 30K Cr. All This Is In Jeopardy With The Cow-Protection Clamour. TOI Takes A 360° Look Across the country, especially in rural areas there's simmering un ease bordering on panic. Farmers no longer think freely about buying or selling cattle. People especially from...

-The Hindu Business Line As the Right to Information Act completes 10 years, we examine how RTI has changed people’s lives, become a byword for democracy, and helped alter the relationship between citizen and state Mintu Devi’s relationship with the ration shop changed the day she filed an RTI. In the jhuggis of New Seemapuri, situated on the northeastern edge of Delhi, she is a legend. The 37-year-old mother of four is...

-DNA A government resolution (GR) to bring back the system was issued this week by the social justice and special assistance department. The move aims to "economically empower" the Valmiki and other scheduled caste (SC) communities, which have been traditionally involved in the cleaning jobs, states the GR. All sanitation workers employed in the government, semi-government and civic bodies across Maharashtra can now nominate their kin for their job after they retire...

-Economic and Political Weekly Despite favourable policy measures, growth of financial institutions and public interventions in the marketing of agricultural produce, the structure of Punjab's agricultural economy makes farmers dependent on commission agents. These agents trap the farmers in a vicious circle of indebtedness. Based on a field survey, this study locates the commission agent system in Punjab's agriculture set-up and recommends reframing it in order to extricate farmers from the...