-The Indian Express Forcing machinery on farmers without giving a thought to the economics of their utilisation can prove counter-productive. There are three main impediments to farm mechanisation in India. The first is cost, which, for a standard 50-horsepower tractor, today averages around Rs 6.5-6.8 lakh. But a tractor is just a source of power and traction, and only as good as the farm implements it can pull. The most basic tractor-drawn tiller/cultivator...

-TheWeek.in Noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil blames the “law-flouting” state government for the devastation in Kerala. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), headed by Gadgil in 2011, had suggested measures to preserve the ecologically frail Ghats. But, the Kerala government, like the other five states, chose to reject the report. Having suffered such devastation, Gadgil feels that the state should survey the “ecologically sensitive zones” that have been compromised due to...

-The Hindu Most of the victims were travelling on two Himachal Pradesh roadways buses Shimla: At least 46 people have been killed and many more injured in a massive landslip at Kotrupi on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway near Jogindernagar in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday morning. Two Himachal Pradesh roadways buses and some light vehicles were buried, when the disaster struck around 1 a.m. The vehicles were halting for a break at a place...

-The Financial Express Punjab farmers would benefit if the state govt subsidised the adoption of appropriate technology and diversification of crops. The newly-elected government in Punjab is considering a loan waiver for farmers to reduce agrarian distress. According to the recent Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers (SASF), the average outstanding loan is nearly three times higher in Punjab compared with the rest of India (Rs 3.31 lakh versus Rs 1.22 lakh). Farmers...

-The Indian Express Mining has the distinction of being the most dangerous profession in India. Industry insiders concede that official numbers could be much lower than the actual deaths that take place deep inside the mines. Progressive improvements in the safety standard of India’s coal mines notwithstanding, every ten days last year there was a mining fatality in the country. And every third day last year, on an average, there was...