-Outlook As the Manmohan Singh government makes evident its unfriendliness to villages, the nation hurtles towards disaster. It's a danger no one wants to face. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been trying for years to make us believe that agriculture is a vast marshland in which a huge population is stuck ankle- to neck-deep and it is his duty to rescue them. "Our salvation lies in moving people out of agriculture," he...

-The Hindu Steep rise in inputs and uncertainty over water availability are among factors Chennai: More and more small and marginal farmers are selling their meagre landholdings to become agricultural workers. This is how agriculturists, policy-makers and economists explain the finding in the Census for Tamil Nadu: Between 2001 and 2011, the strength of cultivators declined and the number of agricultural workers went up. In the 10-year period, there was a fall of...

-The Business Standard Officials in the know said that the commission is of the opinion that auto and taxi fares in the capital should be increased rationally Auto and taxi fares in Delhi could soon be linked to fuel price changes, inflation index and the cost of maintenance, if the Delhi government accepts a proposal floated by the Planning Commission. Officials in the know said that the Commission is of the opinion that...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: Minority-dominated Dhubri district has recorded the highest population growth rate in Assam while Kokrajhar has recorded the lowest, according to the 2011 census, the final findings of which were released today. Assam ranks 14th in the country in terms of population. While Assam recorded a population growth rate of 17.1 per cent (4,550,048 people) over the past decade (2001-2011), Dhubri and Kokrajhar recorded a growth of 24.44 per cent...

-The Hindu   Investment in a scheme that guarantees rural employment with minimum wages should be seen as complementary and not alternative to development activities A recent paper by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has argued that the "push" factors of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are not as important as the economic growth "pull" factors, for increasing agricultural wages. The paper has received wide media...