-PTI New Delhi: The harvest-ready kharif crops of this year are in good condition and have not been affected by recent heavy rains in some parts of the country, Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak said today. The minor losses due to rains in the isolated pockets was factored in during the first projection made last month with respect to total kharif (summer) foodgrains output for the 2017-18 crop year (July-June), he said. According...

-The Hindu Business Line Asks ministry to define stand on Aadhaar-linkage, cash transfers New Delhi: Coming close on the heels of a 11-year-old girl reportedly dying in Jharkhand as her family did not possess Aadhar cards for rations, the All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Federation said that in many States such as West Bengal, haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, departments were directing Anganwadi workers to link the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar...

-The Pioneer Diwali is four days away, and the state of Delhi’s air has gone to the dogs with the National Air Quality Index (NAQI) stating on Sunday that air pollution has spiked to severest “dark red”, strengthening arguments of many who claimed that the Supreme Court was “misled into believing that banning firecrackers during Diwali would clean city’s air”. The worsening pollution level substantiates their argument that the problem lies somewhere...

-Down to Earth New laws to regulate sand mining have not had much impact Illegal sand mining is a perennial problem in India. But it assumes gargantuan proportions right before the onset of monsoon because swollen rivers make extraction extremely difficult during the rainy season. To make most of the lean period, mine owners and hoarders try to dig out as much sand as possible, through legal and illegal means, in...

-Hindustan Times With no viable alternative, thousands of farmers set their fields on fire despite being aware of the consequences of the act on the air they breathe. A look at the possible solutions. As the thick white smoke, billowing from a corner of the field filled the air, a 63-year-old farmer was busy moving some of the still-burning hay with a shovel. He was spreading it to another corner to allow the...