-PTI/ NDTV.com Punjab farmers sat on a protest near the Chandigarh-Mohali border on Tuesday after being stopped from heading to the state capital to press the government for a bonus on wheat crop and allow paddy sowing from June 10. Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday called the agitation by state farmers as unwarranted and undesirable but said he is ready for talks. He also asked farmer unions to join the...

-The Hindu The existing approach of dealing with surface water and groundwater independently has severe limitations The theme of this year’s World Water Day (March 22) was ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’. The primary focus is to draw attention to the role of groundwater in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems, and climate change adaptation. Groundwater helps reduce the risk of temporary water shortage and caters to the needs of arid...

-Down to Earth Blaming farmers alone won’t work; prices for crops other than paddy must be remunerative The Election Commission has announced the dates for Assembly elections in five states of the country including Punjab. The atmosphere regarding the Assembly elections is getting more and more dramatic every day. As in many previous Assembly elections, promises, claims and new promises are being made and repeated by the various political parties to win...

-The Financial Express According to a study, by 2025, agricultural productivity is likely to fall by 68 percent in more than one-third of India's districts that are currently under water stress. The covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the country’s economy has been colossal. Nevertheless, Indian agriculture to date has resisted the onslaught. Though in the FY 2020-21, India’s GDP contracted by 7.7 percent, including negative growth in industry and services agriculture delivered a...

Forest fires are not just confined to countries like the United States of America (California, 2020), Brazil (Amazon forest, 2019-2020) or Australia (2019-20); they happen every year across many states in India too. Media reports suggest that forest fires have taken place in the recent months in Odisha's Simlipal National Park, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, among other states. Forest fires have also been reported this year in Nagaland-Manipur border (Dzukou...