-Livemint.com * The task force will include state chief ministers and central ministers. The timeframe for making recommendations will be announced shortly * The task force will examine ways of improving productivity in farming and the changes needed in Legislation New Delhi: Federal policy think tank Niti Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday decided to set up a task force of state chief ministers and central ministers to prepare a...

-Hindustan Times The CPCB itself has been given a month’s time to publish the guidelines for restoration water bodies, not presently protected by any national Legislation which protects water bodies more than 2.5 acres in size. Gurugram: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), last week, instructed all states and Union territories to follow Haryana’s example and create detailed inventories of water bodies not already protected by any law, review their existing framework...

-DNAIndia.com The infringement suit filed by PepsiCo against Gujarat’s potato farmers is based on legally flawed premises The infringement suit filed by PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd (PIH), Indian subsidiary of the US multinational corporation, against potato farmers in Gujarat is premised on an untenable interpretation of law on plant breeders in the country.  Yet, on the basis of a claim of an infringement of its potato variety by the accused farmers,...

-News18.com Farmer deaths in Yavatmal, Akola, Amarwati and Nagpur brought the issue of pesticide management to the fore for a short while, but the unsafe use of pesticides continues unabated. Yavatmal (Maharashtra): Almost two years after witnessing more than 40 deaths caused by hazardous pesticide spray, farmers of Yavatmal in Maharashtra still live under the constant threat of exposure to toxicity. Neither do they have any clue of safety guidelines, nor do they...

-The Indian Express Indian statistical system can withstand political pressures. Legislation and public scrutiny can strengthen it further. One unfortunate fallout of the recent controversy regarding the non-publication of the labour force survey report by the National Sample Survey Organisation has been the questions raised on the autonomy and independence of the Indian official statistical system. As reported in this newspaper, the possibility of junking the survey report in favour of...