-ThePrint.in Modi govt reduced the import duty on masoor to less than half on 2 June. Farmers and traders allege move is to aid influential trading groups. New Delhi: Farmers and traders are disappointed with the Narendra Modi government over its decision to cut the import duty on lentils (masoor dal) to less than half even as the international prices have spiked by over 12 per cent. The agricultural stakeholders criticised the move...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Huge quantities of cash crops lie unsold across India – like cotton in Maharashtra. A hunger crisis looms, yet farmers in Vidarbha plan to sow cotton, not food crops, once again this kharif season Seventy-year-old Kisan Sakhru Pawar, patriarch of a joint farming family in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, is very anxious. The climbing Covid-19 graph is not the main reason for his anxiety. His concern: unsold cotton. “We have 350 quintals of cotton,...

-Hindustan Times The new guidelines make the testing criteria in Delhi tighter than those issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research on May 18. The Delhi government on Tuesday released a document underlining its new testing strategy which, counter-intuitively restricts the access to the tests further even as the number of cases in the state continue to grow. The new guidelines make the testing criteria in Delhi tighter than those issued by...

-TheWire.in Millions of agricultural labourers are currently under stress due to the ongoing lockdown which has led to a loss in income, loss of jobs for migrant labour and a disruption in the supply chain. Following the stress on the agricultural sector by the COVID-19 related lockdown, the central Government has announced medium to long term relief measures as part of an economic package. However, the package has fallen short on immediate...

-The Indian Express Viral load refers to the quantity of a virus in an organism and is a reflection of how quickly the virus is replicating. Only seven per cent of coronavirus SAMples have a “high viral load” — meaning these people would, on average, transmit the infection to 6.25 other people. The vast majority (84%) have a low infectiousness, transmitting to only 0.8 persons on average. Nine per cent have a...