-The Hindu Business Line Threat of fluoride contamination in crops looms large in Assam Dilwar Hussain may not be able to give you the exact scientific explanation for how excessive fluoride can harm one’s bones and teeth, but he knows that it crippled his young son, causing his legs to bend. Children suffering from skeletal and dental fluorosis — marked by stained and crooked teeth, and bent legs — are a common sight...

-The Economic Times Chandigarh: Cotton, often termed by farmers as 'white gold' for bringing higher remuneration, is set to regain lost ground in Punjab where the area under the crop is expected to rise by more than 50 per cent after it fell to ever lowest 2.56 lakh hectares in the last year. The revival of the fibre crop is buttressed by highest productivity of 756 lint kg per hectare in...

-Hindustan Times Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh’s first “cashless” village is actually “waterless”, prompting villagers to adopt a novel initiative of sourcing water through rooftop water pipes from tubewells located in their agricultural fields 1,000 to 2,000 feet away. Thick black water pipes running over the rooftops and treetops in the village, coming from the agriculture fields might be mistaken as electric wires at first sight. “We don’t care about cashless status as our...

-The Times of India Gurgaon: Only 565 environmental norm violations were reported in Gurgaon and Mewat areas of Aravali Hills between April 1992 and March 2015, and no action has been taken against any officials so far, according to an RTI reply. Of the 565 violations, 524 were filed in the court, which hears complaints that allege violations of environmental norms in Gurgaon and Faridabad areas, while 41 plaints are still pending...

-The Indian Express A Pulses Revolution is possible even in the most backward districts, as a PPP project in Bundelkhand has shown. Damoh (Madhya Pradesh): Zahim Khan has two major worries, as he surveys the urad (black gram) crop on 14 out of the 20-acres land being jointly cultivated by him with 13 other farmers. The immediate concern is rains. Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region, of which his village Somkheda is...