While global outlook for rice production is adequate as of today, complacency of policy-makers worldwide in terms of making enough investments in agriculture has led to resurfacing of old diseases in addition to new ones threatening the gains made in this field in the past, according to R S Zeigler, director general of the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Addressing the annual rice research group meeting held by Directorate of...

The yellow rust disease that hit parts of the crucial wheat-producing States in northern India will hit production by about 5 lakh tonnes, informed sources have said. Although the Agriculture Ministry is said to have taken “timely action,” about 3 lakh hectares under wheat was hit by the yellow rust, a fungal disease that affects the leaves of the standing crop by forming yellow stripes that do not allow photosynthesis to...

The Lok Pal (anti-corruption body) Bill has generated widespread interest in the past few days. The Bill is an attempt by the government, under massive pressure due to corruption charges, to gain some of its lost ground. However, civil rights activists, including Anna Hazare, Swami Agnivesh, Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, have termed the draft legislation as weak and demanded that fifty per cent of the members in the committee drafting...

The story of national shame continues for the second decade in a row for Haryana. Provisional census figures for 2011 show the districts of Jhajjar and Mahendergarh have the lowest child sex ratio in the country. There are 18.02 lakh boys under the age of 6 in Haryana; the number of girls in the same age group is 14.95 lakh. Though the overall child sex ratio has shown an improvement from...

Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati said on Tuesday that the State Government is committed to safeguarding the interests of the girl child and providing equal opportunities to enable them to realise their full potential in life. Presiding over a meeting of Secretaries here, she asserted that even though the sex ratio figures of Census 2011 for Haryana which show an increase over the previous years appeared to be a ray of...