-The Hindu Vijayawada: As agricultural production in Andhra Pradesh is being increasingly impacted by adverse weather, farmers are searching for ways to mitigate the loss. Lost in desperation, they are not realising that there is a widely available tree which enriches the soil fertility multifold with little human intervention and negligible investments. Commonly known as ‘fencing plant’, it is known for many generations but the farming community has almost forgotten it under...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union Environment ministry has refused to release bio-safety research dossiers on genetically modified mustard developed by Delhi University under review for possible commercial cultivation, activists campaigning against GM crops claimed today. The activists said the ministry had turned down their request filed under the Right to Information Act for the bio-safety dossiers containing data on Environmental and toxicity studies done on the GM mustard engineered with bacterial...

-The Times of India Air pollution from respirable particulate matter (PM2.5) could be responsible for 10,000 to 30,000 premature deaths in Delhi — up to 80 deaths each day — authors of an international study released on Tuesday indicated. Scientists who conducted the study, published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal, said most of these deaths were due to heart attacks and strokes, and not very many because of respiratory diseases. The...

-The Hindu The problem with guardianship in any form, is that it tends to be of a "blanket" form – the denial of all decision-making capabilities. A person with a psychosocial or developmental disability needs her guardian’s permission do a number of things that most people would consider routine: opening a bank account, getting married, managing property, entering into a contract, obtaining insurance, and even making a will. The reason? The enabling...

-Tehelka The country has egg on its face but not in its diet, as the Global Hunger Index reveals acute malnutrition Swachh Bharat Mission, if implemented in a holistic fashion, holds the key to curbing not only the problem of diarrhoeal deaths for which India holds the world record, but also malnutrition. However, the World Toilet Summit, which was held in the national capital this year as part of the Mission, was...