-The Hindu     Kushti is located at the intersection of sports, politics and culture and is deeply embedded in the agrarian economy. If farming tanks, so does Maharashtra's greatest spectator sport. You'd think it was the turnout for Sachin Tendulkar's final test. Anyone might - seeing close to two lakh people showing up five hours before start of play, despite a nagging drizzle. But this is "below normal" for Kundal town, which hosts...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: rural development minister Jairam Ramesh today asked every state to "follow" the Bihar model of linking housing benefits to toilets as a possible solution to the chronic problem of poor sanitation in Indian villages. The Union minister's praise, weeks after he had accused Narendra Modi of being a copycat toilet crusader, appeared to be aimed at giving a leg-up to chief minister Nitish Kumar, a potential ally for...

-The Economic Times KOLKATA: Eastern and North Eastern states, which grapple with acute storage deficit, will get a priority in fund allocation for setting up warehouses, National Bank for Agriculture and rural Development (Nabard ) said. States with food deficits like Jammu and Kashmir will also receive a priority treatment. The government has directed Nabard to treat these states favourably to cut farm losses amid implementation of the world's biggest population feeding...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Government agencies and departments, regarded as bywords for inefficiency and red tape, have recorded over a billion e-governance transactions so far this year, watershed for the world's largest democracy that is betting on technology to cure its ills. "It is an important milestone for India's e-governance initiative," said J Satyanarayana, secretary in the department of electronics and information technology. "With better accessibility and more projects getting completed,...

-PTI Wholesale vegetable prices in September this year increased by a whopping 89.37 per cent as compared to last year, an industry body said on Monday. The comparative rise observed at the consumer price index (CPI) basis vegetable prices was 34.93 per cent, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) said in a study. "Wholesale vegetable prices increased by 89.37 per cent in September, 2013 as compared to the same month last...