-Hindustan Times Additional railway rakes, or train wagons, were being made available to ship fertilisers on a priority basis and at short notice, an official said. The Union government has formed a “crack team” to ensure priority movement of fertilisers to key food-bowl states as fears of shortage have triggered panic buying of crop nutrients, people familiar with the matter said. For the first time, a hub-and-spoke model is being implemented to take...

-TheWire.in The pink bollworm attack has left deaths by suicide in its wake. The authorities, farmers say, are late in even conducting preliminary surveys. Mansa (Punjab)/Fatehabad (Haryana): There is silence in the cotton fields of Punjab and Haryana where farmers are uprooting plants after having sprayed multiple rounds of pesticides in vain. The pink bollworm has ravaged cotton crops in the country’s north, mainly in the districts of Bathinda and Mansa in Punjab...

-Livemint.com NTPC Ltd plans to procure 2.5 million tonne of biomass pellets as a fuel to generate electricity at its projects NEW DELHI: As part of the Centre’ plan to contain pollution by crop stubble burning, state-run NTPC Ltd plans to procure 2.5 million tonne (mt) of biomass pellets as a fuel to generate electricity at its projects. These pellets will be mixed with coal as fuel to generate electricity. With the onset...

One is almost certain to hear this from an economist that if something is available at free of cost or at a subsidised rate thanks to government intervention, then people tend to overuse or overconsume such goods/ commodities. So, the best solution is to create a market for such 'almost freely available' or 'highly subsidised' goods or commodities. Once people start paying to use or consume such goods/ commodities, they...

-The Tribune Karnal: The commission formed to probe the August 28 Bastara toll plaza lathicharge incident, led by Justice Somnath Aggarwal (Retd) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on Monday reached the PWD Rest House here and recorded the statements of six farmers. The government had earlier announced that the panel would complete the inquiry in 30 days, but Justice Aggarwal on Monday said it would take around four months. The statements...