-The Hindu Mumbai among biggest laggards with 3.8% growth in collections against a target of 13.3% Mumbai: The Income Tax Department may miss the revenue collection target for this fiscal going by the numbers for the first two quarters. Out of 18 income tax regions in the country, only five — Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Odisha and the North-East — have managed to achieve the revenue goals in the...

-The Hindu Hundreds of species of pollinators may be in dangerous decline Across India’s agrarian plains, plantations and orchards, millions of birds, bats and insects toil to pollinate crops. However, many of these thousands of species may be in dangerous decline. In 2015, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that pollinators lead to huge agricultural economic gains. The report estimated pollinator contribution in India to be $0.831-1.5 billion...

-The Hindu A farmer’s house in the nondescript Kirugavalu village is the country’s largest private rice museum A serpentine road from Mysuru cuts through lush green fields and leads to an obscure village dotted with run-down houses and petty shops with thatched roofs. Sidestepping a passing herd of sheep, I enter a narrow lane and reach a 75-year-old house with a row of pillars. It is this house, in the nondescript Kirugavalu village in...

-The Hindu Natural recharge during monsoon may not help much if groundwater depletion becomes acute, as rainfall of past years controls current storage With 230 billion metre cube of groundwater drawn out each year for irrigating agriculture lands in India, many parts of the country are experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater. The total estimated groundwater depletion in India is in the range of 122–199 billion metre cube. The Indo-Gangetic Plain, northwestern, central and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: It was a historic moment in April 2017 when four women judges headed the most important high courts of Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. But the Indian judiciary may have to wait for another decade to repeat the feat as women judges constitute barely 9% of the current working strength in high courts of the country. The golden moment for women in judiciary, which got its...