-The Hindu Zero Budget Natural Farming has no scientific validation and its inclusion into agricultural policy appears unwise Most criticisms of modern agricultural practices are criticisms of post-Liebig developments in agricultural science. It was after the pioneering work of Justus von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler in organic chemistry in the 19th century that chemical fertilizers began to be used in agriculture. In the 20th century, the criticisms levelled against Green Revolution technologies...

-The Hindu Business Line Women are burdened with much of the care work, which is generally unregulated and poorly paid. This must change Care work has been the focus of policy debates after the International Labour Organization (ILO) published a report titled ‘Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work’ in 2018. The ILO observed that care work involves a range of skills that are often not formally recognised...

-Down to Earth The system, which tracks crop burning using satellite data, can also forecast air pollution levels for next 72 hours The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has launched an advanced Air Quality Early Warning System, which can predict places neighbouring Delhi that are likely to burn crop residue on a given day. The system, developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, under MoES, uses data of stubble burning incidents...

-The Hindu Ministries asked to submit data and ensure correctness of figures The Finance Ministry will start its pre-Budget work from October 14 onwards, according to a circular it sent to all Ministries and Departments. The other Ministries will have to prepare and send their budgets, expenditure trends, and non-tax revenue estimates for 2020-21 by October 9 to the Finance Ministry. Following this, the Finance Ministry will hold separate meetings with all the...

The Hindu Business Line In an article on Monday, this writer pointed out how it is a challenging task to double farmers’ income, given the fall in output prices and the higher cost of farm inputs. In an interview, Ashok Dalwai, CEO, Doubling Farmers’ Income Committee, talks about the various measures the Centre is taking to ensure it is on the right track and reaches its target by 2022. According to...