-The Hindu An opening up has to be accompanied by an increase in relief budget for the most vulnerable After a 39-day lockdown, what will be the shape of things to come? How should one strike a balance between ensuring livelihoods, minimising strife, and maintaining social distancing? In a discussion moderated by G. Ananthakrishnan, Reetika Khera, and Giridhar R. Babu examine the options. Edited excerpts: * With less than a fortnight left for...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Resorting to conservation agriculture would not only increase crop yield, income and reduce the use of natural resources, but would also confer climate change benefits, according to a study by Indian agricultural scientists and others published in an international journal on Thursday. The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, also showed that conservation agriculture was key to meeting many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals...

-The Hindu   New Delhi: When Sunil Kumar Aledia came across a man lying on the road on Wednesday he first mistook him for a dead body. It was only after inching closer that he realised that the person was breathing very lightly, he said. “Paani (Water) is all that he kept repeating and managed to say. Then I bought a bottle of Water and gave it to him,” said Mr. Aledia, convenor...

-The Hindu Community leaders and democratically elected office holders must play a key role in preventing dangerous rumours In 1984, just as Delhi was engulfed by a pogrom against the Sikhs, the city was rife with the rumour that they had poisoned the entire Water supply. Such rumours are not new. For centuries, European Jews were falsely accused of poisoning wells during wars, epidemics or civic unrest. Late 18th century Paris, witness...

-Down to Earth Researchers yet to find the source of uranium in groundWater A new study conducted by the University of Manchester, UK and Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Phulwarisharif in Patna has found uranium contaminating the groundWater in 10 districts of Bihar. It took one-and-a-half years for the researchers to come to the conclusion. They are yet to find out the source of uranium in groundWater. Supaul, Gopalganj, Siwan, Saran, Patna, Nalanda,...