-Livemint.com New system to settle dues to fertilizer firms within a week, record detailed transaction data at time of sale New Delhi: The direct benefits transfer (DBT) scheme for fertilizers that will go on trial in eight districts this month will not entail what its name suggests— the transfer of cash to farmers’ bank accounts. Under the direct transfer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy, customers pay the entire amount for cooking...

-The Hindu When knowledge gained is not acknowledged, and the textbook is considered the sole source of answers, education becomes a foreign language. A critique of rote learning is an educational cliché. Much has been written about it and almost every educator will passionately argue against it. However, the textbook still continues to be the holy grail of learning. You can participate in activities, test yourself, memorise information and learn. But don’t...

-The Indian Express “Due to the large-scale deforestation, there has been a significant drop in the amount of rainfall received,” said Subimal Ghosh, a faculty member associated with the study. Mumbai: DEFORESTATION AND conversion of forest land to crop land has weakened the monsoon in India, a study by a team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay has found. The team from the Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies of IIT-B studied...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The government wants to send people who pay bribes to jail. But, it has refused to make a distinction between people who collude with officials and those who are coerced into paying up. This means people such as Sumita, too, can be jailed. Sumita lost her 10-month-old son on August 9 in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich hospital when the child did not get an injection. The staff delayed the injection...

-The Indian Express Volatility of prices has been one of the major reasons for farmers being weaned away from pulses towards sugarcane. Pune: Last year, when prices of dal had rocketed, both the state and central governments had announced several efforts to increase cultivation of pulses in the country. While the area under cultivation has seen an increase by 119 per cent, wholesale prices of the commodity has seen a dip,...