-The Financial Express For India, a looming freshwater crisis—the World Bank already puts the country’s per capita renewable freshwater resources at less than a fifth of the world, far behind the other four in the list of top-five populous countries—is set to become a nightmare. A study published in Nature Geoscience has found that, upto a depth of 200 metres, 60% of the groundwater in the Indian part of the Indo-Gangetic...

-Down to Earth A parliamentary standing committee blamed Agriculture Ministry’s skewed policy for the inequality in fertiliser usage The parliamentary standing committee on agriculture has recommended formation of a “Pesticide Development Authority” to ensure balanced use of chemical fertilisers in the wake of declining agricultural productivity. The 29th report, called “Impact of chemical fertilizers and Pesticides on agriculture and allied sectors in the country”, was tabled in Parliament by the committee. The...

-PTI New Delhi: To meet the demand for fertiliser in the ongoing kharif season, the government has contracted 2 million tonnes of Urea import for delivery by the month-end. India is dependent on Urea imports as domestic output is lower than the demand. Overseas purchase is being done via three state trading enterprises — STC, MMTC and IPL. “Our Urea requirement is 2.5 million tonnes for this kharif season. We have finalised imports...

-The Indian Express Government committee must work out a sustainable policy framework to address scarcity and inflation in pulses The government’s decision to form a panel headed by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian to study and suggest ways to contain the rising prices of pulses is a welcome move. The committee is expected to frame a long-term policy, which will look into various aspects, including the MSP (minimum support price) and bonus...

-The Indian Express Fertiliser makers rule out reduction in DAP rates, despite exhortations from Centre. Union Chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar has stated that companies have “agreed” to slash maximum retail prices of non-Urea fertilisers like DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) and MOP (muriate of potash) by Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per tonne, even as plantings for the ongoing kharif season have picked up on the back of a good monsoon. But it...