Thanjavur: Normal life was thrown out of gear in different parts of the Cauvery delta districts following heavy, intermittent rain which lashed various parts of the region on Sunday.

The water release would help the farmers to raise paddy on a total area of 1,31,903 acres in the districts of Cuddalore, Thanjavaur and Nagapattinam. To start with, 1,200 cusecs of water would be discharged from the Lower Anicut as follows: Vadavar — 700 cusecs, North Rajan Canal — 200 cusecs and South Rajan Canal — 300 cusecs.

CHENNAI: Well-heeled health conscious consumers, worried by the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides during cultivation, are gradually switching over to organic products. Since they fetch a good price, a section of farmers have taken up Samba cultivation with high organic manure content.

CHENNAI: A late surge in the Southwest monsoon changed the outlook from drought to surplus, filled the Cauvery basin, persuaded farmers in the delta region to go for Samba paddy planting and raised hopes for a good crop this season. 

As the United Nations gears up to launch its newest set of poverty-reduction targets to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015, the words ‘sustainable development' have been on the lips of policymakers the world over.

THANJAVUR, 
August 21, 2014 

CHENNAI: A high prevalence of various occupation-related ailments was found by a study undertaken by a team from JIPMER in partnership with MSSRF among salt workers of Vedaranyam. The findings included a high prevalence of eye infections associated with exposure to the sun and UV rays, several times higher than general population prevalence, besides other occupation-related ailments