-The Economic Times With a weak monsoon, farmers and farm labour, agri-investors and policy makers, everyone is looking up in the sky and praying for more water to pour. Farm analysts are debating whether this will lead to a drop of 16 million tonnes of foodgrain, as it happened in 2009, or 38 million tonnes, as it did in 2002. NCAER is projecting 20 million tonnes drop in grain production in...

Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution KV Thomas tells Nitin Sethi that it makes better sense to distribute stocked foodgrain to people of the country than subsidise exports. Possible spread of drought that the government is looking at... At the moment, monsoon rainfall is 23% below the long term average. But we have to wait another 15 days to know the full situation. We had discussion in the presence...

-The Hindu Ethical, legal issues thrown to the winds as poor women play surrogate mothers   Right in the heart of this city, which found a place on the atlas as the Milk Capital of India, is a ‘fertility clinic-cum-hostel’ to house women who rent their wombs, mostly for foreign couples. The facility, which runs under the name Akanksha Fertility Clinic, caters for 30 surrogate mothers at any given point. Driven by poverty, the...

-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...

-BBC Dalits are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system and despite laws to protect them, they still face widespread discrimination in India, writes Natalia Antelava. As the glass flew across the room and straight into the wall, a dozen or so men stopped drinking their tea. Dr Vinod Sonkar threw money on the counter - enough for the tea he drank and the glass he had smashed - and walked out. Dr...