Even as recent media reports caution that most fruits and vegetables are largely unfit for human consumption due to their high chemical content, pesticides continue to be used recklessly in the fields of Punjab. The ‘Granary of India’ constitutes 2.5 per cent of the total agricultural land in India, but consumes more than 18 per cent of the total pesticides used in India. Within the state the worst affected is the southwestern...

Such projects in upper reaches of Arunachal rivers may hit areas downstream in Assam The Assam Assembly's House Committee, which studied the impact of the construction of big hydro-electric dams in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh on the areas downstream in Assam, has recommended that no dam be allowed in that State without a proper comprehensive and scientific assessment. In its final report tabled on the floor of...

Social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar on Wednesday led thousands of protesters in laying a siege to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pratik Hazela's office here and blocking the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road for nearly two-and-half hours. They were demanding an immediate halt to mega river-dam projects in Arunachal Pradesh and other north-eastern States. The protesters, most of them NGO, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) activists, marched to the...

The Orissa government on Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to provide agricultural credit of Rs 9165 crore in this fiscal compared to Rs 5300 crore in 2009-10. In a conscious move to avoid the embarrassment of having the tag of anti-farmers, the government has also decided to continue with 2% interest subvention on the farm credit, according to minister for agriculture and cooperation, Damodar Rout. In another significant development, the...

The fraught issue of introduction of Bt Brinjal has been shelved but all eyes are now set on the controversial Seed Bill 2010, likely to be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 26. The bill aims to regulate the quality of seeds for sale, import and export and to facilitate production and supply of seeds of quality, but fails to address a crucial issue — seed pricing....