-TheWire.in An article critical of the government's response to COVID-19 was published on The New Indian Express's website on May 8, and disappeared from its link within a day. Last week, The New Indian Express, one of India’s major English newspapers, pulled down an article that was heavily critical of the Centre’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The article, entitled ‘Centre’s COVID-19 Communication Plan: hold back data, gag agencies and Scientists’, discussed...

-Hindustan Times Flood-based irrigation in Haryana, Punjab a threat to groundwater which is depleting over 3 feet every year Chandigarh: Breaking the traditional wheat-paddy cycle is the need of the hour to preserve groundwater for the future generations, reveals a research conducted by Scientists of the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal (Haryana). Asserting that the rice crop alone consumes about 50% of the total irrigation water, the researchers have suggested radical...

-TheWire.in In terms of the spread of the disease, Sri Lanka has the best position and India is the worst hit. Forty days into the epidemic, India has consistently recorded the highest cumulative and daily case count and highest death rate among the four largest SAARC countries. This is the first of a three-part analysis looking at the comparative performance of major South Asian nations in terms of managing the public health...

-The Indian Express Locusts normally arrive during July-October, but have already been spotted in Rajasthan. At a time India is battling Covid, they present a new worry with their potential for exponential growth and crop destruction. On April 11-12, Scientists at the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) observed groups of grasshoppers at Sri Ganganagar and Jaisalmer districts of Rajasthan. But far from ordinary hoppers, these were desert locusts — the same destructive migratory...

-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: Resorting to conservation agriculture would not only increase crop yield, income and reduce the use of natural resources, but would also confer climate change benefits, according to a study by Indian agricultural Scientists and others published in an international journal on Thursday. The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, also showed that conservation agriculture was key to meeting many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals...