-Hindustan Times Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to use his photograph in newspaper advertisements is tantamount to “an open contempt” of the Supreme Court’s ban on using pictures of CMS in government publicity, legal experts say. Yadav’s photograph appeared recently in full-page newspaper advertisements highlighting an agreement to construct an international cricket stadium in Lucknow. A Uttar Pradesh government ad with Akhilesh Yadav that appeared in a newspaper on Friday. On May...

-PTI A group of American students led by an Indian has developed a low-cost way to improve the yield of agricultural produce for the farmers and reduce the use of fertilizers in Telangana through desilting of ponds. "A group of students from here in a year-long study in Telangana have found that silt from ponds reduces the use of fertilizers by 36 per cent and increases the crop yield by nearly 50...

-PTI RAIPUR: Scientists here have developed a high zinc-enriched variety of rice that is expected to play a crucial role in fighting malnutrition in tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh where nearly seven lakh children are still malnourished. The new paddy seed, called "Chhattisgarh Zinc Rice-1", the first zinc biofortified rice variety in India, was launched by the state variety release committee, the authority for official release of new varieties of seeds, in March and its...

The fifth CMS VATAVARAN Young Environmental Journalism Awards is now inviting entries from journalists representing print, broadcast and online media. The last date for receiving the entries is July 31st 2015. The fifth CMS VATAVARAN Young Environmental Journalism Awards is now inviting entries from journalists representing print, broadcast and online media. The CMS VATAVARAN Young Environmental Journalism Awards aim to recognise and reward excellence in environmental journalism by young journalists...

-The Economic Times The elders of Pimparkhed in the punishingly dry Marathwada region of Maharashtra remember the severe drought of 1972; it was then that the village had seen water conservation work of some significance being undertaken. Over four decades later nothing has changed; this village of 1,000 residents continue to rely on tankers for its water needs. And Marathwada has turned into an epicentre of farmer suicides in the country;...