-National Herald Agriculture, food and trade policy expert Devinder Sharma writes: “My understanding is that only agriculture can reboot the economy, sustain millions of livelihoods, and reduce global warming.” At a time when Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz says that neo-liberalism is ‘dead and buried’, and the world as a result is increasingly grappling with the gigantic problems of rising unemployment, gnawing inequality and climatic change reaching a tripping point, agriculture alone has...

-The Hindu Business Line Shift of focus to maize, sorghum, millets would help: Research Hyderabad: Excessive focus on cereal production and the resulting pressure on groundwater in some States is no news. But this, a UK-based researcher contends, means that some States are actually ‘exporting’ their scarce groundwater when they market the cereals. A study by a group of researchers from academic and research institutes from the UK, Germany and India has suggested...

-Livemint.com Systematic analysis of groundwater conservation methods must be conducted to forestall the water crisis India’s over-exploitation of groundwater is contributing to—as stated by NITI Aayog—“the worst water crisis in its history”. Groundwater is one of the most important water sources in India accounting for 63% of all irrigation water and over 80% of the rural and urban domestic water supplies. In fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)...

-Firstpost.com Chandigarh: With the planting of the new paddy crop underway in Punjab, Balour Singh of Sangrur district's Channa village is worried about the hourly fee of Rs 150 he needs to pay his neighbour for supplying water to his fields. Being a marginal farmer, Singh doesn't own a borewell and has to depend on others for water, which is something his paddy crop needs in plenty. But water isn't Balour Singh's...

-The Times of India PATIALA: In a move aimed at preventing ‘desertification’ of Punjab by saving more than 24 lakh million litres of water in just five days, the state government has issued a notification to delay the paddy sowing by another five days. The five-day delay would be saving enough water to meet all requirements of the state (including domestic and industrial) for over one and a half years. The notification has...