-The Economic Times "Open any boll here and you'll see it's destroyed," says Ganesh Shere, a farmer at a village called Jamb in Yavatmal district, about 160 km from Nagpur, in northeast Maharashtra. He walks along the length of his bone-dry, four-acre cotton field and splits two dozen cotton bolls, with a stone or his fingers, to reveal the damage done by pink bollworms, which have become resistant to the genetically modified...
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Unable to see the bamboo for the trees -Sharachchandra Lele
-The Hindu Deregulating bamboo production does not address the issue of building a transparently governed forest sector Governments everywhere tend to look for quick-fixes, overlooking complexities and ignoring the big picture. The move by the Centre to “de-regulate” bamboo production by amending the definition of “trees” under the Indian Forest Act (IFA), 1927, is a great example of this tendency. In November 2017, the Central government issued an ordinance whereby “bamboo” was...
More »Poor south west monsoon rainfall sours hope for good foodgrain output
The phenomenal growth in foodgrain production witnessed in the 2016-17 crop year will not repeat this year. Early prediction by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare shows that the kharif foodgrain production in 2017-18 may likely to fall by 2.8 percent as compared that in the previous year. The kharif foodgrain production is expected to decline from 138.5 million tonnes in 2016-17 to 134.7 million tonnes in 2017-18. Readers...
More »Monsoon signs off with one-third of districts under rain deficit -Amit Bhattacharya
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India received below-normal monsoon this year, with the season ending on a 5.2% deficit on Saturday. While 50% of the country's districts have had normal rains, more than a third — 215 districts — are left with deficient rainfall, which could impact the kharif crop to an extent. A 'below-normal monsoon', according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), is when countrywide rains in the season are...
More »NDA states stall 50 per cent quota for women in panchayat elections -Shalini Nair
-The Indian Express According to the 73rd and 74th Amendment Act of the Constitution, passed in 1993, one-third of the seats in all rural and urban local bodies are reserved for women. Amid reports that the NDA government may revive the Women’s Reservation Bill, for reserving one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women, the Centre has canned a move to bring a central legislation to provide 50...
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