-Earth Island Journal It’s too early to hail Sikkim’s transition to chemicals-free agriculture an outright success, say observers Sikkim, the picturesque northeastern Indian state in the eastern Himalayas, announced in January that it had transitioned completely to organic agriculture — the first state in the South Asian nation to do so. The process of shifting to organic agriculture was initiated by the state government 13 years ago when it launched the Sikkim Organic...
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As cotton wilts, farmers switch to planting pulses; acreage up 39%
-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru: Pulses such as tur (arhar), urad, moong, and oilseeds — mainly groundnut and sunflower — and maize have turned out to be the hot favourites of farmers, who have brought a larger area under these crops in the ongoing kharif planting season. The prevailing high prices, coupled with an increase in the support price and bonus incentive announced by the Centre, is the main reason farmers in...
More »There are laws against spitting, but govts. walk around them
-The Hindu Widespread chewing, legendary paan shops and a ‘so-what’ attitude trump disease concerns. Chennai: Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda promised concerned members in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that he would advise all States to ban spitting in public. He was reassuring several MPs led by K.T.S Tulsi, who expressed worry that “the great Indian spit” was causing many communicable diseases. Yet, most municipal laws already prohibit spitting and prescribe penalties....
More »Density of doctors in India poor, says WHO study -Samarth Bansal
-The Hindu A WHO study titled ‘The Health Workforce in India’, published in June 2016, revealed that the density of all doctors — allopathic, ayurvedic, homoeopathic and unani — at the national level was 80 doctors per lakh population compared to 130 in China. Ignoring those who don’t have a medical qualification, the number for India fell to 36 doctors per lakh population. As for nurses and midwives, India had 61 workers...
More »‘Almost 30 per cent of our land undergoing degradation’ -Madhumathi DS
-The Hindu ISRO-led study analysed satellite imageries of the country over an eight-year period Bengaluru: Nearly 30 per cent per cent of the country’s total geographical area is undergoing degradation, according to a study that analysed satellite imageries of the country over an eight-year period. The degrading area has increased over 0.5 per cent to 29.3 million hectares during the period, as shown by comparative remote-sensing satellite imageries of the States for the...
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