-The Economic Times PUNE: Ravindra Daftari, chairman , Daftari Agro, said, "We used to sell 2,000 packets of desi seeds. But this year, sales went up to 9,000 packets. Next year, we plan to increase the production of desi seeds by four times."  Mahabeej, the Maharashtra government's seed corporation, has undertaken a programme with Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PKV), Akola, to increase the production of desi cotton seeds from 200 quintals this...

MANMOHAN SINGH AND ECONOMICS Sanjaya Baru’s article "The economist as saviour", an account of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s economics could have juxtaposed specific issues of economic policy with Dr. Singh’s stance on them. Sanjaya Baru’s article “The economist as saviour” (editorial page, The Hindu, July 4, 2012), an account of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s economics could have juxtaposed specific issues of economic policy with Dr. Singh’s stance on them. What we...

Model community foRestry initiatives in Orissa are defying FoRest Department efforts to control and exploit the region’s foRests. ‘Heaven is a foRest of miles and miles of Mohua trees / And hell is a foRest of miles and miles of Mohua trees with a foRest guard in it!’ Thus goes a song of the Muria Adivasis in the foRests of Bastar in central India. Encapsulated in this simple expression, however, is...

-Inclusion.in There is good news. And there’s bad news. The good news first. There’s been a bumper wheat crop and the granaries are overflowing. And the bad news? Where do we begin? A lot of that grain will rot. Millions will still remain hungry. Heavily in debt and distressed, farmers are committing suicide. Food prices are soaring. There’s more… Farmers don’t have money. Their land is too small and isn’t yielding much. Fertilisers and...

-The Hindu THE SUNDAY STORY What’s in a name? Ask a Muslim buying or renting property in the city that never sleeps. Mumbai, which prides itself on its cosmopolitan character, is divided on religion, food habits and language. When radio jockey Yunus Khan wanted a house in Gorai in suburban Mumbai, he was told it was a “Sena type” area — a reference to the saffron political party Shiv Sena. “Agents told us...