-Outlook Yavatmal (Maharashtra): Untimely rain and hailstorm destroyed crops and orchards spread over 90,000 hectares in Yavatmal district in the last fortnight, official sources said. Crop of wheat and gram on 87,881 hectare of land was wiped out, while vegetables spread over 1,036 hectares was destroyed, sources in the Agriculture Department said. "Fruits like oranges, papaya and lemon were also destroyed and the area under cultivation comes to over 882 hectares. The highest...

-The Business Standard To get priority under CSR, new policy envisages major role for private sector The government has decided to accord agro forestry equal status with agriculture by setting up a national-level board to promote national agro forestry policy. Besides agro forestry is proposed to be treated as priority area under Corporate Social Responsibility programmes (CSR) and thus the policy envisages a major role for the private sector. To this effect a...

-The Economic Times PUNE: India is still the largest producer of organic cotton in the world, accounting for two-third of the global organic cotton production. But, the total organic fibre production of the country has fallen by close to 50% as global brands shift to Better Cotton Initiative (BCI). A marketing-driven green alternative to conventional cotton grown using chemicals, BCI is growing rapidly and getting premium over the conventional cotton. From...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: A Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions has urged the government to review meat export policy and recommended not to grant permission for any new slaughter house until a critical analysis by a dedicated commission is complete. It also advocated a review of policy of giving subsidies to meat exporters. The report was submitted on February 13 by a 10-member committee headed by Bhagat Singh Koshyari. MP from...

-PTI Hailstorms have had a wider impact on crops, since a large quantity of crops including wheat, grapes, mustard and vegetables have been damaged in Maharashtra Mumbai: Crop in more than eight lakh hectares in Maharashtra has been damaged by untimely rain and hailstorm in some parts of the state, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here today. "I have spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in...