The District Rural Development Agency has hiked the wage from January 1 ERODE: Hike in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) wage has got Erode farmers worried about labour shortage. Following State Government’s instruction, the District Rural Development Agency, which oversees NREGS implementation, hiked the wage January 1 onwards by Rs. 20 to Rs. 100 a day. Under NREGS below poverty line families get work for 100 days a year, which is...
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Indian city of Mumbai hit by condom thefts by Prachi Pinglay
Petty criminals who break into condom vending machines are causing concern among Aids and HIV-prevention activists in the Indian city of Mumbai. Over 3,000 condom vending machines have been installed in the city as a part of an HIV Aids prevention programme. However, more than 500 of the machines have been Damaged by petty criminals who break into them for fun, for small change or for free condoms. During the Hindu...
More »Genetic history by Jacob P Koshy
In 2010, subject to government approvals, Indian farmers will seed their fields with transgenic brinjals—brinjals with a genetic variant that, courtesy Monsanty-Mahyco Ltd and a clutch of agricultural universities, protect them from insects. But 14 years ago, Polumetla Ananda Kumar successfully planted the first Indian transgenic brinjals in a field in west Delhi. Then he promptly burnt the entire crop to the ground. Kumar, head of the National Plant Biotechnology Centre at...
More »UN opens Biodiversity Year with plea to save world's life-supporting ecosystems
In a bid to curb the unprecedented loss of the world's species due to human activity – at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression – the United Nations is marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, with a slew of events highlighting the vital role the phenomenon plays in maintaining the life support system on Planet Earth. “Humans are part of nature's rich diversity...
More »Aid Money Brings a New Social Order by Akash Kapur
At the edge of Killai, a village on India’s southeast coast, there is a collection of 163 concrete houses, single-story blocks set in neat rows and surrounded by open fields. This is the neighborhood of M.G.R. Nagar, named after M.G. Ramachandran, a much-beloved actor and former chief minister in the state of Tamil Nadu. M.G.R. Nagar was built by aid agencies after the 2004 tsunami. It is home to around 300...
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