-The Hindu Sri Lanka’s decision to ban imports on chemical fertilizers was not backed by scientific evidence There is consensus in the scientific community that organic agriculture could reduce crop yield. Quoting three global meta-data analysis, Meemkem and Qaim (2018) pointed out that on average, the yield reduction in organic agricultural systems could be 19-25%, depending on the crop and agro-climatic region. To switch to 100% organic agriculture, a country must have...

The virility of Muslim men vis-à-vis men from other religious communities have often been used as a political tool and to create a divisive agenda just before elections for getting votes from the majority of the Indian electorate who are Hindus. Instead of focusing on positive agendas like human development, employment generation, and poverty reduction, political campaigns just before the elections oftentimes reduce to mere communal propaganda (when a lot...

-Down to Earth Bathua is in demand for its nutrition and taste. Improved varieties of the weed can make it popular among farmers Come winters, and vegetable markets in Delhi are flooded with varieties of leafy greens. Among these vegetables is one hitherto unwanted weed, foraged from wheat fields. Commonly known as bathua in Hindi, cheel bhaji in Gujarati, paruppu keerai in Tamil, chandanbethu in Bengali and vastuccira in Malayalam, this weed is...

-IndiaToday.com In several states like Bengal, Assam and Odisha, rice is the staple diet On October 28, the Centre proposed millets be introduced in mid-day MEAls to tackle the growing problem of malnutrition among school students. Though in the past, some of the non-BJP ruled states, like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, tried to be innovative with the menu, introducing eggs once or twice a week as protein substitutes to...

-BusinessToday.in With all FMCG majors betting heavily on these reforms, their sourcing and expansion plans may now be impacted severely. The abrupt change in the government’s stance on the three controversial farm laws may have far-reaching implications for the country’s food processing sector that involves leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) majors and a market larger than Rs 2.6 lakh crore. With the farm laws are now set to get revoked, a slew of...