It is a government agency that was set up specially to fund non-profits working on rural development. But of late the Council for People’s Action and Advancement of Rural Technology (CAPART) has been plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency. After a few failed attempts to reform CAPART, the government has now decided to overhaul the agency which has close to 12,000 NGOs associated with it.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plans to increase the government's R&D spending and create incentives for the private sector to increase spending on science and technology as well.

In 1905, Sir William Osler, the most influential physician of his time, stepped down from the medical faculty of Johns Hopkins University at the age of 55. At his farewell, he emphasized that the “effective, moving, vitalizing work of the world is done between the ages of 25 and 40—these 15 golden years of plenty.” Many of us, who are old but still active like myself, may like to strongly disagree. But the power of the creative prime in this age group is irrefutable.

Despite the steady growth of India’s farm sector in the past five years, the country has not been able to utilise fully the many scientific achievements in the agriculture sector, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday. “It represents failure of the system,” Singh said while speaking at the Golden Jubilee Convocation of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). “There is a gap between the yield per hectare that is observed in the field and the yields that can be achieved under the ideal farm practices.

The popular three-wheeled vehicles known as auto rickshaws are common in Asian cities where due to their older two stroke engines they have been significant contributors to the current air quality issues that plague the urban areas. Recent changes to four-stroke engines as well as those powered by diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) reduce the pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. However, because of the large number of vehicles emission of such vehicles is still an important issue.

Preparations for the Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainable development have begun, but the first round of preparatory meetings did not address important issues such as sustainable resource use, production and consumption.

We need a new economy that encourages entrepreneurs to bring to the market innovations inspired by the way ecosystems work and modelled on blue earth, says Gunter Pauli.

This article studies the development of the Non-Pesticidal Management Project (NPM) that emerged in the late 1980s in Andhra Pradesh's Warangal district of the semi-arid region Telengana as a response to accumulating agrarian distress, when chemical pesticides did not help to counter massive pest infestations.

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