-The Indian Express There is a worrying dearth of Indian economists working on agriculture today. In his classic Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went, John Kenneth Galbraith observed how the economics profession had a well-defined order of precedence. At the top were the economic theorists and specialists in banking and finance. At the bottom of the hierarchy were agricultural economists. George F. Warren from Cornell University was even worse — a...

-The Hindu Scientists raise concern over frequent and irresponsible use of antibiotics by animal farm industry Frequent and irresponsible use of antibiotics by the animal farm industry is leading to difficulties in treating common bacterial infections as well as post-surgery infections, a panel of scientists warned at a meeting organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on antibiotic resistance, on Tuesday. Dr. Chand Wattal, senior consultant in the Department of Microbiology...

-Livemint.com The govt did increase compensation for crop damage to 50% and even relaxed norms for claims but farmers will get less than a fifth of what they have lost to drought New Delhi: In April, Narendra Modi announced an increase in compensation for crop damage, a move the prime minister termed as a landmark decision and one that will impose a great burden on his government. His announcement followed unseasonal...

-Business Standard Since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government put a moratorium on commercial cropping of Monsanto's Bt Brinjal in 2010, the Centre has received the first- ever proposal for clearance in five years to let farmers grow a transgenic food crop - a genetically modified hybrid variety of the mustard plant. The decision on the proposal would have to be taken by the environment ministry on behalf of the Union...

-Economic and Political Weekly The common and strongly-held view in India is that balanced fertiliser use requires three major plant nutrients, namely, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, to be used in the ratio of 4:2:1, and any deviation in fertiliser use from this norm would constrain growth in crop productivity. This officially-accepted perception, a product of 1950s experiments, has led to wrong policies on fertilisers. Estimating actual and normative quantity of N,...