Most people think there are two kinds of rice, a handful of coarse varieties and some refined versions like basmati. Wrong. There are actually thousands of indigenous varieties of rice, some of which could ensure permanent food security. Consider this.

* Besariya is a traditional rice variety of Bihar that can survive rising flood waters by growing up to 24 cm a day.

The fast disappearing big cat
The elegantly-worded and detailed website of the Madhya Pradesh Government

Sukhdev Singh, 30, a contract labourer from village Kharakha in Sikar district in rural Haryana was desperate to get married. His parents, Hasan Ram and Ranu Bai, had tried to find a match for him but after seven fruitless years they finally gave up. The reason for the shortage of brides lies in Haryana's sex ratio which is acutely skewed with 861 females for every thousand males. In other words, out of every hundred males, 14 would be unable to find a bride. The brunt of this problem is felt the most by poor, rural males.