-Down to Earth A survey in Haryana last year found that 45 per cent of 218 organic farmers got yields for wheat better than the state official average yield  The relative merit of organic farming is recognised. Still, it is usually recommended only for areas of low chemical usage and not for intensively farmed areas such as those where the Green Revolution took place in the 1960s like Punjab, Haryana and western...

-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...

-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...

-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...