-The Indian Express For the last 10 years, farmers in India benefited from both increased production and higher price realisations - leading to rising rural incomes and declining poverty rates. That happy story may now be near its end - which could be the precursor to a renewed crisis in agriculture. The main reason is declining global prices for most agri-commodities (see Table 1). Over the last five-six months, Corn, wheat and...

The Right to Information Act, enacted in 2005, has been considered as the most effective tool in the hands of citizens to fight for transparency and accountability. However, there exists huge gender gap in awareness and usage of RTI Act, finds the report entitled People's Monitoring of the RTI Regime in India 2011-13, released in October 2014 (please see the link below). Prepared by RTI Assessment and Advocacy Group (RaaG) and...

-Economic and Political Weekly The cultivation of geneticallymodified crops, especially food crops, is not just a domestic issue; it has an impact on global food trade as well. Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iimahd.ernet.in) is at the Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM, Ahmedabad. There is no doubt that the application of biotechnology can lead to yield improvement, cost cutting and lower crop losses, besides providing more processable raw materials and designer products. That is why...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union rural development ministry today highlighted the findings of select studies to defend its plan to modify the rural job guarantee scheme and answer critics who have accused it of trying to dilute the programme. A ministry note that cited these studies said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) needed reforms to increase the creation of productive and durable assets and reduce politics and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Over 60% offences of rape, molestation and 'eve teasing' (sexual harassment) recorded across Delhi till mid-September occurred inside the house and the accused were known to the survivors. A unique court-ordered study by Delhi Police of 44 police stations throughout the capital has revealed that women are most unsafe at home with their relatives or acquaintances. The report on police's "analysis and conclusions" was submitted as...