-Down to Earth The Punjab government April 12 appealed to the central government to allow relaxation in the norms of shrivelled grains without any value cut, since the farmer had already been penalised on account of lower yield The Punjab government said April 13, 2022 that the Centre has agreed to revise its wheat procurement norms for shrivelled grains, a day after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann urged it do to so. Record-breaking...

-The Hindu The increase in temperature would reduce the quality of harvested wheat since it thrives in cold weather Unusual warm weather conditions, accompanied by a prolonged dry spell in Punjab and Haryana have left farmers and experts anxious, who fear that prevailing climate conditions would not just harm the quality of the ready to harvest wheat crop, but could also delay and increase the cost of cultivation for sowing cotton, the...

-Down to Earth Smaller cities of Bihar more polluted than the big cities in Delhi-NCR The average concentration of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) in the cities of eastern India was the same as that in the cities of Delhi-NCR in the winter of 2021-22, according to a new report.  Parsed regionally, eastern India was over three times as polluted as southern India and 22 per cent more polluted than northern India from October...

-Centre for Science and Environment * Releases new report that presents irrefutable evidence of the benefits of non-chemical agriculture * Yesterday’s Budget promises to promote chemical-free natural farming, but it is a half-hearted promise at best, as no separate allocation has been made in it, says CSE * CSE’s asks: Invest in organic and natural farming. Make it a mass movement New Delhi, February 2, 2022: “Despite the push given to it through periodic...

-The Tribune In Sirsa, private players are buying cotton at up to Rs 9,700 per quintal whereas the government has fixed the MSP at Rs 5,925 Sirsa: The low cotton yield this season due to excessive rain and pink bollworm attack has resulted in the crop selling at over 60 per cent higher than the minimum support price (MSP). In Sirsa, private players are buying cotton at up to Rs 9,700 per...