-TheWire.in In an interview for The Wire, the former ICRISAT scientist says the damage could have been contained if the government had acted promptly to warnings. The desert locust is a deadly agricultural pest that has been on a feeding spree across North Africa, West Asia and South Asia. Lore and mentions of locust swarms exist in the Mahabharata, the Bible and the Quran. But it has been largely absent from the...

-Frontline.in The draft Bill on land leasing in Punjab is aimed at promoting the interests of agribusiness corporations. It will have devastating consequences for peasants in the State. THERE is no doubt that agricultural land leasing laws in India should be amended to make land leasing lawful and easier. The NITI Aayog Report (2016) proposed, on the grounds of efficiency and equity, a formal model law on leasing (Model Agricultural Land Leasing...

-Vikalp.ind.in The spread of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns in India since the last week of March 2020 have put not just people’s health concerns at the forefront, but most of the economic and social sector activities are at halt. Amidst the virus spread and subsequent lockdowns, schools, colleges, universities (educational institutions) are closed without completing the academic calendar year. To deliberate on teaching and learning processes and Research activities in...

-Hindustan Times The new guidelines make the testing criteria in Delhi tighter than those issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research on May 18. The Delhi government on Tuesday released a document underlining its new testing strategy which, counter-intuitively restricts the access to the tests further even as the number of cases in the state continue to grow. The new guidelines make the testing criteria in Delhi tighter than those issued by...

-The Telegraph Seasonal sowing, MGNREGA boost prospects The grim employment scenario in urban India got aggravated while the rural sector showed some improvement in the last week of May, with Researchers attributing the uptick in the villages to seasonal sowing activities and increase in work under the MGNREGA while calling the overall condition critical. Data released by private Research group Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) show that the unemployment rate for the...