-The Hindu SRIKAKULAM: Mushroom cultivation is helping many unemployed youth and tribal farmers to get decent livelihood with less investment in Srikakulam district. Women groups have joined them in learning cultivation techniques thanks to huge demand for mushrooms in Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has been conducting a series of training programmes with the support of various non governmental organisations including BREDS and ARTS...

-FirstPost.com "Spray 50 pArts per million of Gibberellic ralic acid, 6BA and 0050 grade potassium on leaves. Apply muriate of potash at the rate of 25 kg per acre." Almost every morning, Sanjeev Mane sends messages like these in Marathi to his 5,100 followers on Whatsapp in Maharashtra and the border areas. The post above, of 20 April, was advice to farmers on preparing their cane crop for the summer season. Cheap Internet...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At a time when the government is stressing on science and mathematics for girl students, a study from Rajasthan on gender and equity goals in secondary education shows that its efforts are not misplaced and in fact the issue needs urgent attention. One of the key highlights of the study undertaken with support of MacArthur Foundation shows there is a paucity of women maths and science...

-The Hindu Nidoda Vaijanath, who follows an integrated farming model, keeps himself updated by reading, consulting scientists Bidar (Karnataka): How many crops can you grow on six acres? For this enterprising farmer from Bidar, the answer is 11. Nidoda Vaijanath of Kamathana village also keeps cows, buffaloes and sheep and also has a mini-poultry farm. His farm has small patches covered with fig, cashew, ginger, watermelon, lime, mosambi, drumstick, brinjal, coriander, mango and curry...

-The Hindu The failure of Narendra Modi's infrastructure plan reflects the larger failure of the Indian imagination, a mindless enumeration of ideas that have little or no bearing on Indian reality. When much of what is built is a half-baked imitation of disparate items tried and tested elsewhere, it becomes hard to fault Mr. Modi. If the recent image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi swinging on the jhula with Chinese President Xi...