-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Agri marketing in Punjab is unimaginable without commission agents (arhtiyas). But a section of farmers in the state are beginning to respond to farmer producer organizations' (FPOs) attempt at marketing as an alternative to the traditional direct selling. The move is also expected to help farmers break the wheat-paddy cycle and take to growing vegetables. A study sponsored by National Bank for AgriculTure and Rural Development (NABARD)...

-TheWire.in Doctors and activists found a higher than normal incidence of tuberculosis, mental illnesses and arthritis-like joint pains, even among people below the age of 30. Tired, ghoulish bodies moving around in a field of ash casting a blanket of sameness against vast, black mines, broken now and then by the bright yellow of scorching fires – this is what a coal mine looks like. Lighting up the nation comes at a...

-Hindustan Times KC Rekha may have become a fisherwoman out of necessity, but she’s come to love her profession, despite the odds and uncertainty, despite her life being as complex as the tangled net in her vessel. Thrissur (Kerala): KC Rekha, a 45-year-old mother of four sits alone on an isolated beach of a Kerala fishing village at the crack of dawn, untangling a mess of nylon fishing nets on which her family’s...

-The Hindu In the cotton belt of Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, pesticide poisoning through inhalation has caused 21 deaths in three months. Serish Nanisetti reports on the deadly cocktail of absent regulation, government apathy, and farmers’ desperation that continues to claim lives Geeta Bandu Sonule doesn’t cry any more. Not even when she relives the final moments of her husband Chandrakant Bandu Sonule (40), who died two months ago, after spraying pesticide on...

-The Times of India At a time when cities are struggling to deal with heaps of garbage, here is an organisation that is focusing on decentralization of waste. City-based Institute Of NaTural Organic AgriculTure has been providing sustainable waste management solution for the past 25 years. Founded in 1992 by Late M R Bhidey and R T Joshi, the institute is currently run by three environmententhusiast entrepreneurs, Manjushree Tadvalkar, Nutan Bhajekar and...