-The Indian Express It will also promote indigenous research and science, incentivise pulses production, rationalise pricing. The inferno of environmental pollution that the nation’s capital and its surroundings have been witnessing has many causes, including weather conditions (thermal inversion) that facilitate the settling of particulate matter and other pollution, dust on the streets generated in part from construction activity, and vehicle-related emissions. Particularly critical is the burning of paddy after the kharif...

-Mail Today "We do not wish to risk upsetting farmers just ahead of the polls," the Punjab agriculture department officials said. Punjab has pleaded helplessness on the farm fire menace clearly citing the impending Assembly elections in March-April 2017. Members of the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) told Mail Today that at two recent meetings, Punjab agriculture department officials prayed they may be excused from fining farmers for burning paddy...

-The Indian Express It’s not as if the Centre cannot initiate reforms in agriculture. In fact, in at least three major areas, the onus for leadership and action lies with the Centre. For over a year, there have been news reports of Niti Aayog, the erstwhile Planning Commission’s new avatar, working on a wide-ranging reform package for India’s farm sector. In recent months, teasers have appeared hinting at the Centre’s plans of...

-Livemint.com Pigeon Pea variant Pusa Arhar 16 could prove a game changer for inflation-wary policymakers as it has a maturity time of 120 days down from 160-270 days of current varieties New Delhi: Anew high-yielding pulse developed by government scientists at a leading research institute could prove a game changer for inflation-wary policymakers and consumers alike. Pusa Arhar 16, a dwarf pigeon pea created by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI),...

-The Hindu Business Line This kharif, with its high pulses output, provides an opportunity to push procurement, processing — and lift curbs on exports Pulses have been in the news over the last one year and for all the wrong reasons. Sharply lower harvests two years in a row (2014-15 and 2015-16) due to a below-normal southwest monsoon in the kharif season and unseasonal rains during the rabi harvest combined with rising...