Weather events such as extreme temperatures and drought caused global Agricultural losses of 11.4 billion dollars in 2011, while 12 million hectares of farmland are lost to land degradation every year, and unsustainable Agricultural practices contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. These and other data provided by a report released Wednesday in London by leading scientists from 13 countries raise the question of how to curb the environmental crisis, guarantee...

-The Business Standard   Learning from the jatropha mistake The tropical shrub jatropha curcas, touted a decade ago as a commercially feasible source of biofuel to alleviate the global energy crisis, seems to have let its proponents down quite comprehensively. Millions of hectares of land in the arid areas of India and in many other Asian and African countries were turned into jatropha plantations in the expectation that the oil derived from its...

-The Telegraph The wage rate under rural job scheme NREGA could soon be brought on a par with the minimum wages for Agricultural labourers fixed by states. The Centre is likely to amend the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by incorporating a provision saying the wage cannot be less than the minimum rate for Agricultural labourers in a particular state. At present, there are discrepancies between the two. A Karnataka...

MGNREGA is certainly a good idea. But it can’t be allowed to play havoc with farming operations by weaning away labourers during peak season RURAL DEVELOPMENT Minister Jairam Ramesh recently rubbished the need for freezing the flagship rural job scheme MGNREGA during peak Agricultural season. Dismissing the possibility, Ramesh had said: “The matter has been examined by the Mihir Shah Committee and rejected.” Knowing that Mihir Shah’s entry into Planning Commission...

-The Economic Times In a first for the state, newly elected Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has publicly declared his assets worth 4.83 crore, setting the tone for his cabinet colleagues to come out and declare their net worth. Agency reports said that in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when Akhilesh Yadav filed his nomination papers for Kannauj parliamentary seat, he had declared movable and immovable assets of more than 5.52...