-GRIST Media If hard work and enterprise inevitably made you prosperous, every rural woman would be a millionaire. These women have borne the brunt of the radical, often brutal transformation of rural India these past two decades. Our writers examine the hardships they continue to face as well as their remarkable vision to solve some of the greatest problems of our times such as food security, environmental justice and developing a...

-The Hindu Gulbarga (Karnataka): Organic farming is catching up with farmers both in the irrigated and rain-fed areas in Gulbarga district. The improved agricultural practice of mixed crop cultivation, avoiding the use of the chemical fertilisers and pesticides, is a hit among the farmers in the district. Joint Director of the Agriculture Department Mohammad Jilani Mokashi told a group of presspersons visiting some of the agriculture plots, where individual farmers have adopted...

-Economic and Political Weekly The cultivation of geneticallymodified crops, especially food crops, is not just a domestic issue; it has an impact on global food trade as well. Sukhpal Singh (sukhpal@iimahd.ernet.in) is at the Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM, Ahmedabad. There is no doubt that the application of biotechnology can lead to yield improvement, cost cutting and lower crop losses, besides providing more processable raw materials and designer products. That is why...

-The Hindustan Times India's wholesale inflation rate plunged to 2.38% in September, the lowest in five years, aided by a sharp drop in vegetable and petrol prices, data released on Tuesday showed, rekindling hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cut interest rates soon. The more than one percentage point drop in wholesale inflation rates over August's 3.74% should bring cheer to the NDA government, which rode to a landslide...

-Down to Earth Sivasankaran's land grabbing spree has threatened millions of livelihoods, says report Indian origin businessman Chinnakannan Sivasankaran has engaged in aggressive land grabbing of more than half a million hectares across Africa, Asia and South America, putting millions of livelihoods at risk. This was revealed in a detailed report released by Barcelona-based non-profit GRAIN on Tuesday. The report says Sivasankaran diverted 0.56 million hectares of food-producing land to production of palm...