-The Hindu Aims to create awareness on judicious and proper use of pesticides The Government has taken several measures for proper use of pesticides by the farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture has stated in a release that pesticide residue data generated under the “Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level” are shared with State Governments and concerned ministries/organisations to initiate the corrective action for judicious and proper use of pesticides on crops with...

-PTI The samples collected during 2014-15 have been analysed by 25 labs. New Delhi: In a major health hazard, the government has found residues of pesticides in a significant number of vegetables, fruits, milk and other food items collected from various retail and wholesale outlets across the country. Samples collected from organic outlets were also found having residues of pesticides. Residues of unapproved pesticides were found in 12.50 per cent of the 20,618 samples...

-Deccan Herald Twenty years, 35 villages and over 10 lakh surviving trees. Harshavardhan Sheelavant narrates a community initiative in Dharwad district that has converted hundreds of acres of fallow land into green orchards and transformed the lives of farmers. It was another monsoon day without rains. But the dry spell didn’t quench the spirit of residents of Belligatti village in Dharwad district who assembled near a small hillock on the outskirts of...

-DNA   A poisoned country   A few weeks ago, India entered into an agreement with the UN to end the use of the insecticide DDT by 2020. DDT had been used in agriculture for decades until it was restricted in 1989, but 6,000 tonnes of DDT are still produced annually for the eradication of mosquitoes and other pests. This would be perfectly understandable, except for the simple fact that DDT has become...

-Hindustan Times Jhabua: In the small, nondescript villages of Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district, a group of tribals have joined hands to show the way forward to sustainable future by adopting organic farming.   Two years ago, the tribals of Chhaya Paschim village in the district, about 300 kms from the state's capital Bhopal, were inspired to switch to organic farming by Mahesh Sharma, a social worker and local agriculture...