-Earth Island Journal It’s too early to hail Sikkim’s transition to chemicals-free agriculture an outright success, say observers Sikkim, the picturesque northeastern Indian state in the eastern Himalayas, announced in January that it had transitioned completely to organic agriculture — the first state in the South Asian nation to do so. The process of shifting to organic agriculture was initiated by the state government 13 years ago when it launched the Sikkim Organic...

-The Indian Express A senior state official said that the objective would be on environmental TRAIning focused on protecting water resources, preventing deforestation, safer pesticide use, and mitigating impacts of extreme climatic condition on farm produce Mumbai: After facing three severe drought spell in four years, Maharashtra has decided to embrace climate-smart agriculture. On August 10, the state cabinet gave its nod for an ambitious project of TRAIning farmers in 4,900 villages...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A panel set up by the human resource development ministry has recommended a uniform syllabus in math and science subjects for Classes XI-XII across all senior secondary boards. The decision is likely to be implemented from the 2017-18 academic year, an HRD ministry official said. It is learnt that the recommendation is acceptable to all 30 senior secondary boards in the country. However, the panel headed by A. Ashok,...

-The Hindu A levy on firms, resources from which are earmarked for vocational TRAIning, is what could help the country bridge the skill gap in its workforce. Financing technical vocational education and TRAIning (VET) is costlier than general education due to its technical nature. Pre-service TRAIning requires the installation of equipment and TRAIned instructors to TRAIn youth. This raises the cost of TRAIning, and remains a factor preventing pre-service TRAIning from expanding...

-The Hindu "This shows a mismatch on reporting of deaths by Railway administration to the Railway Board concerning safety issues," the report said. A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has blamed the Indian Railways for not providing adequate TRAIn services, leading to overcrowding and death of passengers in suburban TRAIns. The report, released last week, noted that 33,445 people died between January 2010 and December 2014, with half the cases being...