-Down to Earth A few villages in Haryana successfully grow cotton amid widespread destruction of the crop by whitefly in the region LOOK HERE, the red pest you see is Chrysopa,” says an excited Manisha, while navigating through her cotton field in Haryana’s Nidana village. “A single Chrysopa, a carnivorous pest, eats around 125-150 whiteflies a day,” says the 24-year-old. Further ahead in her 0.8-hectare cotton plantation, she picks another plant leaf...

-DNA The failure of Bt Cotton to ward off pests has pushed farmers to penury The whitefly attack that has devastated the cotton crop in parts of Punjab and Haryana and caused heavy losses to farmers was a disaster that was waiting to happen. Estimates say that some 8 lakh hectare of standing cotton has been destroyed causing damage worth crores of rupees, which has hit farmers hard. This disaster was waiting...

-Economic and Political Weekly The platform known as the JAM Trinity (an acronym for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers) may enable a shift from the current Public Distribution System, based on price subsidies, to the direct transfer of benefits. However, it is incorrect to argue that JAM technologies will necessarily lead to the demise of the PDS. State-level experiences of computerisation, recounted here, reveal that the same technologies can...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government is looking at taking rich households out of LPG subsidy scheme with the aim of freeing up resources to provide clean kitchen fuel to more poor families and ensure socially responsible use of public Money. While no final decision has been taken yet, the issue has certainly emerged as a discussion point within the top levels of the government. "I humbly submit that the time...

-The Hindu He stressed that his government seeks to roll out inclusive reforms that will lead to better lives for people and not just better headlines in pink newspapers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India’s performance on all economic parameters, including inflation and foreign investments, is now better than when his government joined office 17 months back. Speaking at the Delhi Economics Conclave 2015, Mr. Modi stressed that...