-IANS NEW DELHI: Pollution levels have reached "alarming" levels in Delhi even before Diwali and could touch "scary" heights after the festival on Wednesday, an environment watchdog said on Tuesday. Diwali, the festival of lights, has been increasingly adding tonnes of toxic smoke to the city's air in recent years because of the extensive use of firecrackers, leading to major health issues. This year the pollution levels could cross previous levels, experts warned. One...

-The Indian Express Government cannot afford to wait any longer to address the building agricultural distress. The government and the political class seem oblivious to a deepening farm crisis, resulting from back-to-back monsoon failures and falling crop prices. One indicator of the growing agrarian distress is farmer suicides, no longer a phenomenon confined to Vidarbha or Telangana. The current year has seen farmers even in states like Karnataka, Odisha and Madhya...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Uncontrolled burning of paddy stubbles by Punjab farmers appears to be again putting the health of residents in the National Capital Region at risk, with Delhi's air quality falling sharply in the past two days even as farm fires peak in Punjab. Since Saturday, Delhi's air quality index has dramatically dropped by 60-80 points and is now inching towards the 'very poor' zone, when children are...

-Rediff.com Potshangbam Devakanta from Manipur shows the way in conserving the biodiversity of the state, farming around 100 traditional varieties of paddy and rare medicinal plants, finds Manu A B/Rediff.com. When farmers across India are grappling with Weather woes and poor yields, Potshangbam Devakanta from Manipur has succeeded in adopting smart and eco-friendly methods of farming to ensure his harvest is satisfactory year after year. Like thousands of farmers in India, 60-year-old Devakanta...

-The Hindu Business Line Policy interventions, skill development enhance opportunities for farmers Agriculture, the largest livelihood generating activity, is fast transforming itself from a supply-driven to a demand-demand scenario. The discerning consumer (urban, rural and global) is increasingly demanding better quality, multiple choices, food safety and convenience. Diversification is the key to convene these changing demand patterns with supply, and more importantly, to act as an overall risk mitigant for the producer himself....