Sharad Pawar says many states had asked him not to ban the pesticide Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is rooting for endosulfan just before the fifth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Stockholm Convention meets in Geneva from April 25 to April 30 to decide the fate of the pesticide. There seems to be a pattern in Pawar’s resistance to banning endosulfan. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on February...

India is growing more wheat than it ever was. While other leading wheat producing countries like China and US are witnessing a decline in output, the country has stood as an exception with an estimated record production of 84.27 million tonnes of the staple foodgrain this year. Russia, Canada and Australia, too, are witnessing a downturn. “India is gaining internationally in the wheat production,” S S Singh, Project Director of Directorate of Wheat...

Social activist Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption has brought the Jan Lokpal Bill back in focus 43 years after it was first introduced in Parliament The prospects of bumper wheat procurement from Punjab and Haryana may get affected with rain along with hailstorm threatening to hit wheat production in both the states. With over 90% of wheat crop yet to be harvested in both states, experts have asked farmers to wait for...

High-velocity winds accompanied by hailstorm and an incessant spell of rain for a couple of hours last night damaged the almost ripened wheat crop in villages across Patiala and surrounding areas. With farmers demanding a special girdwari, the administration may write to the government to look into their losses and order payment of adequate compensation. Reports reaching the district headquarters said that the hailstorm had flattened standing wheat crop in numerous...

Large-scale damage to the wheat crop from 'yellow rust' – a fungal disease – in the lower areas of the state, including Mandi, Kangra, Una and some parts of Hamirpur districts, has raised an alarm among farmers. High humidity in winters with fluctuating temperatures through the cold months acted as favourable conditions for the disease. “Immense damage of wheat crop has been reported in Mandi district due to yellow rust attack and...