-The Hindu Challenges abound in this approach, which needs to be analysed in depth before a policy is announced The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently announced that it will do away with the mandatory PhD qualification to teach in Central Universities (CUs) spread across the country. It purportedly addresses a shortage of qualified faculty in CUs. According to the Ministry of Education data, there were 10,000 teaching positions lying vacant in...

-PTI/ The Week Ensuring irrigation efficiency is of paramount importance for sustainable agriculture. India needs to redesign its irrigation policy, including by promoting improved technological interventions in the wake of depleting ground water, according to an ARTicle published in the latest issue of RBI Bulletin. In the backdrop of recurrent episodes of drought and declining groundwater table, ensuring irrigation efficiency is of paramount importance for sustainable agriculture, the ARTicle published on Tuesday said. RBI...

-The Hindu More than a billion people around the world were affected by drought in 2000-19, making it the second-worst disaster after flooding. The story so far: A United Nations report has revealed that many pARTs of India fall under the list of regions that are vulnerable to drought globally. The report also stated that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reduced by 2 to 5 per cent between 1998 and 2017 due...

-The Hindu Business Line Rather than cut fuel prices, encouraging farmers to step up cultivation of oilseeds and raising LPG subsidy and vegetables will ease food inflation  It is true that a reduction in the prices of petro products will result in a modest fall in the prices of various commodities. However, the reduction in petro prices will happen only when both Central and State governments forgo a substantial portion of the...

-The Hindu The delay in compensation is appalling and the inaction is in breach of court orders, says Bench The Supreme Court has slammed the Kerala government for doing “virtually nothing” for Endosulfan pesticide exposure victims. The court said the State’s inaction was “appalling” and amounted to a breach of the apex court’s 2017 judgment, which had ordered the State to pay ₹5 lakh each to the victims in three months. Five years...