-The Financial Express Dismantling cane economy will not be painless, shift crop to drip irrigation Opinion-makers, from agricultural economists and academics to environmentalists, have blamed sugarcane for aggravating the water shortage in Marathwada. But the view is contested. ‘I reject the hypothesis,’ says Venkat Mayande, during a conversation in Pune. Mayande was vice-chancellor of Akola’s Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University till 2012. How can 2.1 lakh hectare (ha) of cane cause a shortage of...

-The Hindu Less toxic than processed and red meat. Potassium bromate, the chemical additive widely prevalent in bread and refined flour and associated with cancer, is in the same league as coffee, aloe vera, mobile phone radiation and carbon black, a key ingredient in eye-liner. It also is less toxic than processed and red meat, according to a perusal by The Hindu of the list of agents deemed potentially cancerous by the International...

-The Hindu Business Line It should apply to long-term rather than short-term loans, to prevent funds misuse and promote capital formation The Budget 2016-17 witnessed an increase of Rs. 2,000 crore in the allocation towards interest subsidy for short-term credit (i.e. crop loan) to farmers, compared with the revised estimate for 2015-16, thereby making a total provision of Rs. 15,000 crore towards interest subsidy. In fact, of the total allocation of Rs. 35,984...

-The Hindu Business Line Six districts in AP and Telangana tell the story of nutrition and gender bias Consider two sets of appalling nutrition-linked realities in India. One, almost half the children under five years of age are stunted and two, most Indian girls and women are generally anaemic. Given India’s poverty level, the stunting is not surprising. Anaemia among girls and women is also linked to cultural issues. Across the country, boys...

-The Indian Express Sale of crop in Haryana among reasons for missing 120 Lakh MT initial target by 10-12 lakh MT. Jalandhar: DESPITE EXCELLENT crop and increased yield in nine districts of the total 23, the Punjab government’s wheat procurement target may witness a fall of around 10-12 lakh metric tonnes from its initial target of 120 lakh metric tonnes (lmt), that is 12 million tonnes, this year. According to Punjab Mandi...