-The Indian Express (Edit) Punjab’s wheat payment crisis strengthens the case for direct transfers in MSP operations. For a state whose farmers have already suffered from crashing basmati paddy prices and damage to their cotton crop from whitefly pest attacks, the current payment crisis in wheat couldn’t have come at a worse time. Government agencies have so far procured over 6.5 million tonnes (mt) of wheat from Punjab in the new...

-The Times of India RAIPUR: "Should I repay loan with cheque of Rs 81 or go and commit suicide to rid of this disgusting cheque and the load of debt both?" asks a distressed farmer at a village in Surguja district has suffered loss of crop on his four acre of land amounting to Rs 1 lakh. Surguja district administration paid this farmer a relief compensation of Rs 81 via a cheque...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: The splotch of red ink on bank balance sheets is set to become bigger as a new scandal in the form of disappearing food stocks in Punjab godowns threatens to burn a Rs 12,000-crore hole in their books and embarrass the Parkash Singh Badal administration. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ordered all banks with exposure to the Punjab government's food borrowing programme to provide for potential...

-Frontline The government’s passage of the Aadhaar Bill in complete disregard of even basic parliamentary procedures and in subversion of an ongoing judicial process puts at risk a number of constitutional rights and liberties of citizens. The benefits cited are just ploys to realise a neoliberal dream. “Congressmen are dancing as if [Aadhaar] was a herb for all cures. With the Supreme Court pulling up the Centre, people are now seeking...

-Livemint.com With global population set to hit 11 bn by 2100, gene banks are vital links in a chain of steps needed to avert hunger New Delhi: From the outside, the tapering building in classic brick red and cream standing by a quiet stretch of road in west Delhi has the unmistakable look of a government office block, an impression reinforced by its manicured lawns and the acronym NBPGR embossed at...