-RisingKashmir.com   Farmers unaware of soil tests, production takes hit: Experts   Srinagar: Despite having five laborites in Valley, the Agriculture department has failed to conduct the soil tests of agriculture lands of the farmers for better yield. Soil testing methods were started in India in 1955-56 but the state is yet to introduce it among farmers affecting the states’ agriculture production. Farmers complained that they are unaware of the soil testing methods which could...

-The Hindu The Compensatory Afforestation Bill has raised significant money, which must be used to restore existing forests rather than on artificial plantations On Parliament’s wooden desks, a Bill is knocking. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill seeks to govern how forests will be raised, cut, and resurrected across India. It will be looking at how a fund of Rs. 38,000 crore, collected from cutting down forests, is to be used. Meant initially just...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A joint study by Indian and Pakistani doctors has detected abnormally high blood sugar levels in six out of 10 adults in cities, indicating a "frighteningly" higher prevalence of diabetes or its precursor, pre-diabetes, than observed before. The doctors, who screened 13,720 people aged over 20 in Chennai, Delhi and Karachi, have warned that the high incidence of pre-diabetes suggests millions more urban South Asians are likely to...

-The Times of India MORADABAD: The western UP district of Moradabad has for some time now been getting 50% of all printed circuit boards in India. No wonder then that it generates a staggering 9 tonnes of hazardous waste daily, with officials saying close to 50,000 people are involved in it. Most of the recycling is illegal and residents have now begun to panic. Confirming their worst fears, latest research by...

-The Hindu Business Line A narrow focus on growth-led development is the cause of the world’s sustainability crisis, not its solution The world’s political leaders meet in New York today to adopt a ‘sustainable development’ agenda. On the face of it, this sounds very hopeful. It signals that finally, humanity may move towards making peace with the earth, even as it erases the shame of over two billion people still living in...