-PTI New Delhi: The harvest-ready kharif crops of this year are in good condition and have not been affected by recent heavy rains in some parts of the country, Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak said today. The minor losses due to rains in the isolated pockets was factored in during the first projection made last month with respect to total kharif (summer) foodgrains output for the 2017-18 crop year (July-June), he said. According...

-Livemint.com In India, 9 million people left farming between 2001 and 2011 largely due to distress, not because industry invited them, says Shyam Khadka, India’s representative at the FAO Shyam Khadka, India’s representative at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, says more Indians are moving out of agriculture due to distress and not because the manufacturing sector is inviting them. In an interview, Khadka calls for converting food...

-The Hindu Child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi urges President to set up National Children’s Tribunal for time-bound disposal of cases of crimes against kids Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi reached Delhi after completing his 11,000-km-long Bharat yatra across 22 States, from Kashmir to Kanyaumari, against child sexual abuse. Speaking to Soumya Pillai, Mr. Satyarthi, said his yatra was aimed at providing a platform to several children, youth and their families...

-The Pioneer Diwali is four days away, and the state of Delhi’s air has gone to the dogs with the National Air Quality Index (NAQI) stating on Sunday that air pollution has spiked to severest “dark red”, strengthening arguments of many who claimed that the Supreme Court was “misled into believing that banning firecrackers during Diwali would clean city’s air”. The worsening pollution level substantiates their argument that the problem lies somewhere...

-Down to Earth New laws to regulate sand mining have not had much impact Illegal sand mining is a perennial problem in India. But it assumes gargantuan proportions right before the onset of monsoon because swollen rivers make extraction extremely difficult during the rainy season. To make most of the lean period, mine owners and hoarders try to dig out as much sand as possible, through legal and illegal means, in...