-The Hindu Business Line     A government run by a bevy of economists with no sense of the ground reality made mistakes. Some really big ones As the new government settles down to tackle the myriad problems confronting it, it's worth taking a quick glance at the principal reasons for the spectacular unravelling of the UPA-2 government. A defining characteristic of UPA-2 was that it was led by an economist and supported by prominent...

-The Hindu     Erode (Tamil Nadu): Farmers here believe the BJP Government's commitment to link agriculture to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) would result in revival of village economy in the long run. Several public works, particularly those aimed at strengthening water bodies, and improving ecological balance, under the programme are already agriculture linked. The works include digging new agriculture ponds, renovating existing ones and other small water bodies, cleaning...

-Down to Earth The move is aimed at stopping various malpractices related to seeking jobs under the scheme Bihar rural development department has issued an order to immediately cancel over 7.25 million unused job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). There are 1,260 million job-card holders under the scheme in the state. Amrit Lal Meena, principal secretary of the rural development department, told Down to Earth that the...

-NDTV   Nearly a third of adults and a quarter of children today are overweight, according to a report by the Global Burden of Disease Study published in The Lancet medical journal. No country has turned the tide of obesity since 1980. Traditionally associated with an affluent lifestyle, the problem is expanding worldwide, with more than 62 percent of overweight people now in developing nations, said the report.  There are some 2.1 billion...

-The Hindu   The project has been started in Edaiyapatti panchayat in Pudukottai Pudukottai district is one of the driest regions in Tamil Nadu. The major crops under tank fed and open well irrigation system in this region in Tamil Nadu are paddy, millets, black gram and groundnut. Pulses like green, black and red gram are generally grown as a rainfed crops especially during summer. But the harvested pulses do not fetch a good...