-The Hindu Orders 50 percent of works taken up must only be for water conservation Union Minister for Rural Development Nitin Gadkari has "ordered sweeping changes" in the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), mandating that 50 per cent of all the works that are taken up at the district-level under the scheme should only be for water conservation, according to an official statement released here. The Minister has taken...

-The New York Times AGIRIPALLI: In this belt of villages near the fertile Krishna River delta, much is as it has been for generations: The cotton soil is as black, the mango trees as heavy with fruit, the tobacco fields as fragrant and deeply green as ever. But there have been curious changes in recent months. An old temple has received an expensive renovation, complete with a new banquet hall, courtesy of...

-PulitzerCentre.org   "We can say that Punjab is dying now. There is no doubt. Punjab is the food basket [of India]. Now we can say it is the disease basket." Dr. Pritpal Singh sits in his simple office in the Baba Farid Center for Special Children, located in the small town of Faridkot, in India's Punjab region. Since 2003, Dr. Singh has been here, working with fellow health professionals at the center, offering therapeutic...

-LSE Asia Research Centre Background: Farmers' suicides have become an important socio-economic concern in India that has profound implication on the quality of life of farmers and their families. There are not many epidemiological studies on this. We propose to estimate suicide rates for farmers and non-farmers across the states of India and over time. We will also contextualise our results to the discourse on agricultural technology and development in general...

-The Hindu GUDURU (KRISHNA): In Krishna district, considered the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh, illiterate women leaders of agricultural labourers, engaged in paddy operations, have made a major contribution for better yield. The leader, known as ‘mestri' or ‘crop manager' among the womenfolk, attends the field with a rope in her hands. Having the sufficient number of workers, her duty involves calculation of the quantity of paddy saplings required for transplantation in...