-Down to Earth The system, which tracks crop burning using satellite data, can also forecast air pollution levels for next 72 hours The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has launched an advanced Air Quality Early Warning System, which can predict places neighbouring Delhi that are likely to burn crop residue on a given day. The system, developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, under MoES, uses data of stubble burning incidents...

-Newsclick.in Glyphosate use exposes India’s broken pesticide-herbicide regulations. Glyphosate has been in the news in the past few months for all the wrong reasons. In three separate verdicts in California, courts have held the herbicide responsible for causing cancer. In the latest case, the jury has awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed that exposure to glyphosate triggered their cancer. These cases mark the FIRst time that citizens have successfully...

-The Indian Express The Maha Agri Tech project attempts to mitigate agricultural risks by using data anlytics to plug gaps. Launched in January this year, the Maha Agri Tech project seeks to use technology to address various cultivation risks ranging from poor rains to pest attacks, accurately predict crop-wise and area-wise yield and eventually to use this data to inform policy decisions including pricing, warehousing and crop insurance. When farmers in...

-The Hindu Ministries asked to submit data and ensure correctness of figures The Finance Ministry will start its pre-Budget work from October 14 onwards, according to a circular it sent to all Ministries and Departments. The other Ministries will have to prepare and send their budgets, expenditure trends, and non-tax revenue estimates for 2020-21 by October 9 to the Finance Ministry. Following this, the Finance Ministry will hold separate meetings with all the...

-The Hindu Onion producers, however, have called an agitation, with one farmers’ group threatening a strike if the export ban is not lifted. Onion prices in Delhi have dropped below the Rs.60 a kg mark in the retail market for the FIRst time in two weeks, as the Central government’s measures, imposing stock limits and banning exports, took effect, cooling off the prices in most parts of the country. Onion producers, however, have...