-The Guardian In a village in India's poorest state, Bihar, farmers are growing world record amounts of rice – with no GM, and no herbicide. Is this one solution to world food shortages? Sumant Kumar was overjoyed when he harvested his rice last year. There had been good rains in his village of Darveshpura in north-east India and he knew he could improve on the four or five tonnes per hectare that he usually...

-The Guardian Communities have more hope than ever of seeing off companies trying to acquire their land, with support from media and NGOs A new report on land acquisition by the Munden Project/Rights and Resources Initiative BRIngs an important angle to the land "grab" debate. Rather than focusing on the ethics of land grabbing, the report makes the business case for working with local communities, arguing that failure to inform or fairly...

-The Hindu In the recent incidents at Dhule and Thangadh, the communal bias of the police was caught on camera and is there for anyone who cares to see Images of the Delhi police lobbing tear gas shells at and using water canons on protesters at India Gate on a Sunday, December 23, 2012, who were agitating against the gang rape of a young girl are embedded in the nation’s psyche, courtesy...

-The Hindu Panel made details of incident, witnessed by street-children, part of its report It is almost a month since the Justice Verma Committee came out with its recommendations to make laws more stringent to deal with crimes against women, particularly sexual assault cases. Though the government acted swiftly by BRInging out an ordinance to make amendments in criminal laws, it seems to have overlooked some crucial portions of the report which...

-Outlook Lucknow: Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said the 12th Five Year Plan lays emphasis not merely on economic development but on inclusive growth to BRIng more poor and marginal people under its ambit. "The one point that I find reading the newspapers talking about the economic development is that there is a tendency to think that economic growth is a very narrow objective," Ahluwalia said while addressing the...