-The New Indian Express According to the central bank’s RTI reply, 3,542.991 million notes of Rs 2,000 were printed during the financial year 2016-17. NEW DELHI: Have you been wondering why the ATMs have been barely dispensing Rs 2,000 notes for last few months? That’s because the printing of the high-value note has been stopped, the Reserve Bank of India informed this newspaper in reply to an RTI query.     The Bharatiya Reserve Bank...

-The Indian Express Punjab government’s data states that 3,330 farmers have taken their lives due to farm debt since 2000 till date, of which 698 committed suicide in the past four years, most of them in the Malwa region. Over the past few years, ‘farm debt’ has been one of the main reasons behind farmers and farm labourers committing suicide in Punjab. Farmer groups, state universities’ and government data have indicated...

-The Indian Express To understand what is at stake in the NPA story, one needs first to understand why the public sector banks lent so much money to companies which are today unable to pay it back. India’s economic crisis that is finding expression in low-growth rates and high unemployment rates is partly due to the decline of investments, which is partly due to the fact that companies cannot get access...

-The Hindu Powerful lobbies with vested interests see agroecology as a threat to their influence on farming systems Agroecology is recognised worldwide as a system that enhances fertile landscapes, increases yields, restores soil health and biodiversity, promotes climate resilience and improves farmers’ well-being. Its practices are supported by many agricultural scientists, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, farmers’ groups and several NGOs. It is therefore surprising that...

Almost one in every five suicides in the world is committed by self-poisoning with pesticide, which mostly occur in rural, agricultural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), states a new publication entitled 'Preventing Suicide: A resource for pesticide registrars and regulators'. Published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the booklet says that the adoption of green revolution technology...