-Hindustan Times The fight against air pollution extended to nearby towns in NCR on Saturday as the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Protection Control Authority (EPCA) directed seven districts across Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to stop the registration of diesel autos, taxis and buses with immediate effect. In a move to phase out diesel-run public transport facilities from NCR, the statutory body directed all authorities concerned in the seven districts to stop issuing fitness...

-The Hindu The restrictions on private vehicle usage may have got most of the media coverage, but are by no means the only steps the government has announced. Nationally, over 35 per cent of urban households own a motorised two-wheeler and just under 10 per cent own a car, jeep or van. In Delhi, where per capita incomes are among the highest in the country, these proportions are much higher: nearly 40...

-The Telegraph Paris: An international forestry research agency has accused the world's biggest users of coal, including India, of continuing their emphasis on coal-fired energy and thus threatening global efforts to curb Earth-warming greenhouse emissions. The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has bracketed India with Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Colombia and America as countries whose continued focus on coal is putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It has said these countries' pursuit...

Agricultural insurance is supposed to protect farmers from financial hardships and risks when crop losses and damage takes place due to extreme weather events such as drought, cyclone, hailstorms, flood etc. However, in reality this does not hold true in India. Due to the failure of crop insurance schemes in India, there has been a deepening of agrarian crisis and rural distress in the recent times, particularly in the backdrop of...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Farmers have lost more than 10 million tonnes of rabi crops, valued at above Rs 20,000 crore, due to unseasonal rainfall and hailstorm in February-April this year, CSE said in a report. India may have to import 10 lakh tonnes of wheat in 2015-16 as about 68.2 lakh tonnes were lost due to unseasonal rainfall, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said in its report, titled 'Lived Anomaly'. In...