-Down to Earth Low returns and high risks from alternative crops among reasons past efforts failed, says report The Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) has recommended promotion of crop diversification, favouring oilseed crops amid the global inflation in oilseeds and vegetable oils prices. Global inflation creates a structural risk as vegetable oils account for about half of India’s agricultural import, subsequently raising the country’s agri-import bill, the commission wrote in its...

-TheWire.in A Tata Nano pays the same toll to go from Mumbai and Pune on the expressway as does a Rolls Royce. Why should pharmaceutical products be any different? On May 26, amid news reports about yet another closed-door meeting that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had had with unspecified stakeholders, we were reminded of an interesting press release that the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers had issued in July 2021. The...

-The Tribune Target 12 lakh hectares | Land under DSR 72,000 hectares Chandigarh: The state Government has extended the deadline for farmers to opt for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) to June 30 after its ambitious plan to bring 12 lakh hectares under the water-saving technique has come a cropper. Official sources say that of the targeted 12 lakh hectares, only 72,000 hectares have been brought under the DSR. With paddy transplantation set...

-Hindustan Times EIA 2020 had received over two million objections, comments and suggestions to the draft. A total of 100 environmental groups, organisations and individuals. New Delhi: Although the environment impact assessment draft notification proposed by the Government in 2020 (EIA 2020) that raised concerns from environmentalists has expired because it was not notified in time, experts caution that the authorities have introduced some of the contentious rules separately. EIA 2020 had received...

-Hindustan Times During the Covid pandemic-induced lockdown in early 2020, nearly 25,000 migrant workers reached Saharanpur on bicycles while heading back to their native places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from their places of work in Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Meerut: The Saharanpur district administration has auctioned 5,400 bicycles left behind by migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar while rushing home during the nationwide lockdown in the wake of...