-Los Angeles Times Chandan Savargaon: The day before his little sister's engagement party, Vibhishan Tapse was in a buoyant mood. He laughed with his mother and teased the bride-to-be as they prepared food and set out sweets for 200 guests who would begin arriving the next morning. Months earlier, the 23-year-old Tapse had told his father: You paid for my two older sisters' weddings. Let me take care of this one. That meant...

-The Hindustan Times New Delhi: Mohammed Abdul Sattar, 55, has been living in 'Delhi' for the past 20 years, but has never been to Connaught Place, which is hardly 8 km from his house. His 21-year-old daughter, Rukhsar Praveen, has been badgering him for the past few years to take him to shopping centre. "I have heard it's a big shopping centre with many tall buildings, but my father says it's...

-Reuters NEW DELHI: India's reservoirs are depleting fast and monsoon rains need to pick up now if they are to have enough water to prevent a drop in output of major winter crops such as wheat and rapeseed that are sown from October, a senior government official said. Rains were 15 per cent below average in the week to July 16, an improvement from the previous week's shortfall of 41 per cent...

-Deccan Herald The Green Revolution has changed life in Indian villages, but the main beneficiaries were the landlords. Daily labourers remain poor and marginalised. The limits of using ever more fertiliser and pesticides are becoming apparent. Many farmers are confused because extension services want them to reconsider practices they were told to abandon not that long ago. A member of the Santal tribe, an Adivasi community, assesses things from the village perspective. Since independence...

-The Hindu Business Line The primary mandate of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) acting under directions of Food Ministry is to service requirements of the public distribution system (PDS) in association with State Government Agencies (SGAs). But over the years, FCI has also been called upon to intervene in managing market prices, albeit with little success. FCI efficiently procures wheat, paddy/milled rice but faces odds while selling surplus grains in the...