The outcome of Stockholm Convention to ban endosulfan capping a long-drawn campaign against the pesticide on health grounds may have brought cheers to the opponents but the domestic industry is crying foul suspecting an European link aiming to capture the Indian market. India and a few other developing countries extracted several exemptions, including a phase out period of 11 years to ban production and use of the toxic pesticide at the...

India has decided to join a global consensus to end the production and use of endosulfan after being allowed 11 years to phase it out and promised financial assistance. This decision is not irreversible since India has to ratify its own decision. An absolutely final position can be adopted after the results of more elaborate studies on extensive use are available since a causal link between the health hazards in...

A LEAFY VILLAGE in Kerala, Pathanpara, never found access to India’s electricity grid. That is why for the last several years, this village has been generating its own electricity. Raju, a dhoti-clad cashew nut farmer, operates Pathanpara’s five kilowatt (KW) micro hydropower plant. He lives in the village and earns a salary of Rs 2,250, paid by the People’s Electricity Committee (PEC). The power generated is shared equally by the village,...

The government on Thursday raised the benchmark prices at which fertiliser companies and designated traders can import phosphatic and potash fertilisers with subsidy support so that farmers have uninterrupted supply of plant nutrients in the coming monsoon season despite higher global prices. The subsidy given to companies for making the commodity available to farmers, is computed based on the notified benchmark prices. The decision to raise the prices of imported di-ammonium...

A group of over 80 eminent personalities, including the former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board Chairman, A. Gopalakrishnan, has expressed shock at the Centre's announcement on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in Russia that it would go ahead with the Jaitapur nuclear power plant. Terming it “sheer insensitivity” on the part of the government, the citizens' group said the decision meant disregarding the “overwhelming” opposition to the project by 40,000...