-FirstPost.com Preparation of budgets is Traditionally an incremental process: the first railway budget of the present government took off from the landscape sketched in the 12th Five Year Plan. Expansion, modernisation and development of railway infrastructure were to be given thrust through 3Ps: Public-Private Partnerships. Budget 2016-17, however, promises a new horizon on two fronts: overcoming challenges through 3Rs: Reorganising, Restructuring and Rejuvenating Indian railways, and introducing pillars of strategy, including zero-based...

-Business Standard The move comes after a joint action panel recommended use of Traditional varieties as they were immune to pest attacks Chandigarh: Farmer suicides in Punjab and Haryana in the aftermath of extensive damage to the cotton crop in 2015-16 due to pest attack has led to a swing in official opinion against genetically modified (Bt) seeds. A Joint Action Committee was appointed by the two state governments on the causes and...

-PTI He said this platform will enable the farmers, using a mobile phone, to sell their produce anywhere in the country. SEHORE (MP): A digital platform for enabling farmers to sell their produce at a better rate anywhere in the country will be launched on April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Sehore on Thursday as he resolved to ensure doubling of the farmers’ income by 2022. Mr. Modi, who unveiled guidelines...

-The Hindu India has close to 1,00,000 cases of drug-resistant TB, most of which remain undiagnosed and untreated. So India’s state of preparedness to fight DR TB remains questionable. In a small, airless room in Dharavi, Owais sat chatting with his wife and two children. Outside, the famous rains of Mumbai beat down relentlessly on the thousands of tiny rooms that dot Dharavi. “I hope it doesn’t flood,” said Owais’s wife as he...

-Hindustan Times In Bollywood romcoms, mustard fields glowing iridescent yellow are an oft-used backdrop for romantic songs. Remember the iconic 1995 hit, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Mustard, as it were, is an onscreen metaphor for vigour and youthful passion. However, looked through a farm scientist’s lens, the Traditional Indian mustard isn’t genetically very impressive. It is only half as robustly growing as its east European cousins. Low yields mean India has to...