Despite high prices of fruits and vegetables, India's area under horticultural crops - mainly fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers - has doubled in around twenty years (between 1991-92 and 2012-13). This has resulted in increase in production of horticultural crops nearly threefold (2.8 times). A new report from the Ministry of Agriculture says that the area under horticultural crops during this period rose from 12.77 million hectares to 23.69 million...
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Activists express concern over Forest Rights Act dilutions -Meena Menon
-The Hindu Over 40 groups wrote to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister of State for Environment, on Tuesday, expressing concern over "consistent efforts of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to bring out resolutions and executive orders in violation of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 (or the Forest Rights Act (FRA))". In separate letters to the Prime Minister...
More »Study suggests vitamin D deficiency is widely prevalent -Zubeda Hamid
-The Hindu A study on over 37,000 people showed nearly 69 per cent were deficient Chennai: Vitamin D has been in the news lately and it looks like it's there to stay. A recent study conducted by a diagnostic centre on 37,010 people across five zones in the country (including Tamil Nadu) revealed that 69 per cent of those tested were vitamin D deficient, and a further 15 per cent had insufficient levels...
More »How to reform and how not to -Mihir Shah
-The Hindu Every effort needs to be made to reform MGNREGA, as it has been both a major success and a huge failure. The best way for this is to study carefully the conditions that made it a success and also to undertake a diagnostics of its failures An impression has gained ground in recent weeks that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre is inimical to the Mahatma Gandhi...
More »Air pollution lowers crop yield: study -N Gopal Raj
-The Hindu THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Much of the drop in yield came from air pollution caused by fine particles like soot as well as ozone generated by sunlight acting on emissions of precursor molecules. India's food grain production is facing a double whammy, with heightened air pollution adding to the impact of climate change on crop yields, according to a recent study. "Our statistical model suggests that, averaged over India, yields in 2010 were up...
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