-The Times of India NEW DELHI: If Delhi government has to make sure that residents don't eat Pesticide-laced food, it will have to push neighboring states to reduce their Pesticide usage. Most of Delhi's fruits and vegetables come from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Agricultural experts say that while High Court-appointed panel's recommendations on monitoring Pesticide residue levels are welcome, much more needs to be done. According to the latest report...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A Central government panel has recommended stringent checks for Pesticides in fruits and vegetables, including imported ones. Submitting a report before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath on Wednesday, the panel - led by a health ministry official - is for intensive monitoring of Pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables sold in Delhi. The experts committee, chaired by Sandhya Kulshrestha, was...

-The Business Standard The latest suicide in Vidarbha underlines the need for flexible loan repayment norms for farmers Is it better to give compensation to dead farmers, or to provide loans and insurance to those who are alive? In the case of a majority of cotton farmers in Maharashtra, who are struggling against shrinking land size, production costs and debts, there is neither credit or insurance when alive nor compensation on death. Farmers caught...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Around 62 per cent of high-income households prefer organic food due to rising awareness, higher disposable income and easy availability in the markets of big cities, a study by Assocham says. There has been a growth in the demand for organic products in metropolitan cities, especially fruits and vegetables, an increase of 95 per cent in the last five years. The survey titled "Rising demand of organic products...

-The Telegraph A village awaits doomsday By Jaideep Hardikar, Penguin, Rs 299 Why is the year, 2011, important? It is important for some states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, for it marked a change of government. But it is important, nationally, for the reason that 2011 was a census year. The data for Census 2011 has come, recently, into the public domain - which shows that our farmer population is shrinking....