-The Financial Express A half-dozen years ago, I participated in a conference on water resource challenges in India. I remember Upmanu Lall, professor at Columbia University, graphically and bluntly making the point that Punjab’s water table was not far from collapse. This has been known for years, and there have been feeble efforts to deal with the problem, but they have been far short of what is needed. My own understanding...

-The Economic Times blog Farmers, from Punjab in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, have started agitations demanding farm loans be waived. The Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra governments have already considered it politically expedient to write them off. Some other states may follow the suit. However, such decisions are as misguided as they are misleading. Nonetheless, it will be a mistake to treat the agitations as a domino effect of...

-Down to Earth The leaves were reportedly confiscated as the women were selling them to buyers other than the forest department Without any legal rationale, the officials of Madhya Pradesh Forest Department seized tendu leaves collected by 24 tribal women in Barwaha village near Mungaoli town. The incident happened on May 31 when the women were returning after collecting the leaves. The leaves, used in rolling beedis, are a part of the...

-India Today The numbers of marriage by abduction, the Tradition is simple: zero-in on a prospective groom, kidnap him and make him tie the nuptial knot at gunpoint, are growing. May 25 was meant to be a memorable day for Julie, a 19-year-old girl in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, 70 km north of the state capital Patna. A beautician had visited her for makeup and Julie was sparkling in her bridal attire. Her house...

-The Indian Express Between 2013-14 and 2016-17, India’s exports of agricultural commodities have dipped from $43.2 billion to $33.8 billion, even as imports have climbed from $15.5 billion to $25.6 billion Falling exports and rising imports — this has been the story of the country’s agricultural trade over the last three years, notwithstanding the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious Make in India initiative. Between 2013-14 and 2016-17, India’s exports of agricultural commodities have dipped...