-Hindustan Times Three years ago, when representatives from Sukhbir Agro approached farmers in Punjab proposing they sell their farm waste to the company to generate bio-energy, no one believed them. “They proposed to buy our waste… We didn’t believe them,” said Amolak Singh, a farmer. However, as the farmers slowly came around to the idea the green benefits of this move became apparent. Every November, farmers in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and...

-Hindustan Times Farmers like Amolak Singh in the farm rich state of Punjab are making money and also helping clean the air in cities like Chandigarh and Delhi by selling agricultural waste to generate bioenergy. Every year in November, farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan burn agricultural waste which leads to rise in air pollution levels in the national capital and neighbouring cities, home for over 2.5 crore people. Things have changed as...

-The Times of India LUDHIANA: It is very unfortunate that a state like Punjab, which is known for its rivers, is facing shortage of water. "When I share this problem with the people of other states, they don't believe it and laugh it off. But in reality, conditions are becoming worse and there is a need to take immediate steps to improve the conditions," Union minister for water resources Uma Bharti...

-Hindustan Times Committed to serve only healthy 'langar' (food cooked in community kitchens of shrines) to devotees, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has declared its intention of producing organic seed of different types of food grains, vegetables and pulses, and then distributing these among farmers for growing in their agricultural fields. The SGPC may produce these organic seeds under the brand name, 'Shiromani', on agricultural land owned by it. The idea was...

-The Financial Express Two years of bad rain makes even Punjab vulnerable When a Punjab is flagged as an area of some risk following bad rain, it is time to get seriously worried. The state may have, as ratings agency Crisil points out in its latest report on Indian agriculture, as much as 98.8% of its cropped area under irrigation, but with a 50.4% shortfall in rain last year and a likely...