-Down to Earth Farmers are being pushed to suicide amid market shortage   Chilli farmers in Telangana’s Subakkapalli village, Bhopalapalli district, are living their worst nightmare. A new pest, black THRips (THRips parvispinus), has destroyed over 40 hectares (ha) of standing crop in a matter of months. In Sidduri Ravindra Rao’s farm, the initial signs of the attack were reported in the first week of December last year. He increased the frequency of...

-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...

-Down to Earth Wheat straw is being sold at Rs 1,100-1,700 per quintal; it was being sold at Rs 400-600 per quintal last year Farmers across north Indian states are facing a shortage of dry fodder due to the wheat crisis, which in turn, has been primarily fuelled by an unusually hot March, according to farmers, agricultural scientists and experts. Many farmers chose to plant mustard instead of wheat this rabi season in...

-Newsclick.in Experts worry that with the government aggressively promoting a "singular reductionist corporate-controlled silver bullet solution" like fortified rice, a myriad of diverse local and natural solutions will get neglected and even eroded. Synthetic fortification of rice is not proven to be effective and can be toxic to many Indians, according to a report prepared by the Right to Food Campaign. The report was released following a THRee-day fact-finding visit to Jharkhand...

-TheFederal.com Data from National Family Health Survey debunk claims made by right-wing activists about a population boom in Islamic community as part of an alleged conspiracy to turn India into a Muslim-majority country The latest data obtained from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) debunk claims made by right-wing activists about a population boom in the Islamic community as part of an alleged conspiracy to turn India into a Muslim-majority country. The recently...