-TheWire.in In an interview for The Wire, the former ICRISAT scientist says the damage could have been contained if the government had acted promptly to warnings. The desert locust is a deadly agricultural pest that has been on a feeding spree across North Africa, West Asia and South Asia. Lore and mentions of locust swarms exist in the Mahabharata, the Bible and the Quran. But it has been largely absent from the...

-Down to Earth Attacks by desert locusts are threatening India, Iran and Pakistan, as well as the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region Desert locusts are breeding 400 times than usual due to favourable climatic conditions, according to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). This explosive multiplication may spell disaster for large parts of Asia and Africa. Favourable climatic conditions for the pests have resulted in their multiplication,...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Flagging the deadly impact of air and water pollution that annually claims at least nine million lives globally, a new UN report on Wednesday called for urgent action to save humanity from the disastrous consequences of environmental degradation. It warned that cities and regions in Asia, middle-east and Africa could see millions of premature deaths by mid-century if the nations fail to drastically scale up environmental...

-The Hindu India has the technological capacity, the financial resources, and the need for a simple, transparent basic income scheme In 2010-2013, I was principal designer of three basic income pilots in West Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, in which over 6,000 men, women and children were provided with modest basic incomes, paid in cash, monthly, without conditions. The money was not much, coming to about a third of subsistence. But it was...

-Down to Earth Farmers worldwide face existential threat as milk prices slump but dairy processing giants are making a windfall. Down To Earth travels to Germany, Kenya and several Indian states to take stock of the global crisis Call it the fallout of faulty farm policies of the rich or simply a demand-supply gap, dairy farmers across the world are crying for help as global milk prices slump. In India, the biggest...