-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Abhijit Prabhudesai, a Goa-based environmentalist, has travelled to Delhi six times since last December to appear before the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT’s) principal bench, which is hearing his petition on environmental concerns regarding the Mopa airport in north Goa. His plea was being heard by NGT’s Pune bench until the tribunal started facing severe shortage of judicial members, closing it down temporarily, along with its regional benches...

-Livemint.com India’s weather office has forecast a normal monsoon. Bountiful rains in the June-to-September period are critical for about 800 million Indians who depend directly or indirectly on farming New Delhi: Gangabhishan Thaware, a 53-year-old farmer from the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra, took an unusual step in July last year. Thaware and his fellow villagers had toiled on their fields and spent thousands of rupees on seeds and fertilizers, hopeful...

-The Indian Express To rope in 50 FPCs for business from this kharif season Pune: MahaFPC, the apex body of farmer producer companies (FPCs) in the state, has decided to try its hands at the business of input management, mainly fertilisers, this year. Yogesh Thorat, managing director of MahaFPC said they will be targeting around 50 FPCs to get into the business, starting the kharif season. Since the start of the FPC movement,...

-The Indian Express Falling rates in March stumps industry in month synonymous with high prices. Pune: Since February, Deepak Pawale, who runs a poultry farm at Retavadi village in Khed taluka of Pune district, has been selling 45-day-old birds weighing 2-2.5 kg each at well below his estimated production cost of Rs 70 per kg. “The traders aren’t ready to pay higher rates, as they tell me that their sales have slowed down,”...

-The Economic Times Pune: Chana farmers stand to lose Rs 6,170 crore as they have not received the government assured minimum support price (MSP) for a good chunk of their crop, according to the ‘loot calculator’ of Jai Kisan Andolan (JKA), a movement which works for farmers’ rights. The Andolan, launched by Yogendra Yadav founded Swaraj Abhiyan, has gleaned this crop of data based on an expected production of 1,110 lakh quintals...