-The Times of India BATHINDA: The Punjab agriculture and farmers welfare department had banned glyphosate herbicide in October 2018, but the chemical is still being sold by an e-commerce company. Taking note of that, Punjab State Farmers and Farm Labourers Commission chairman Ajay Vir Jakhar has tweeted to ask the e-commerce giant Amazon to stop selling glyphosate herbicide in Punjab. Jakhar tweeted: "Punjab banned sale and use of glyphosate. You sell and...

-The Hindu All nations must climb down the emissions ladder without giving up on their standard of living Climate change is a global problem, and a global problem needs a global solution. The most recent Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report suggests that we, as humankind, might have just over a decade left to limit global warming. The IPCC says total global emissions will need to fall by 45% from 2010...

-The Indian Express This comes even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the 14th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification on Monday, mentioned that “we are focusing on ZBNF”. India’s premier academic body of agricultural scientists has hit out at Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), terming it as an “unproven” technology bringing no incremental value gain to either farmers or consumers. “The government should not needlessly invest capital...

-The Hindu Local governments remain hamstrung and ineffective — mere agents to do the bidding of higher level governments Democratic decentralisation is barely alive in India. Over 25 years after the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments (they mandated the establishment of panchayats and municipalities as elected local governments) devolved a range of powers and responsibilities and made them accountable to the people for their implementation, very little and actual progress has been...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: With the salt-and-roti expose in Mirzapur embroiling the mid-day meal scheme in controversy, the government will conduct a quality audit of food served to children. This will be conducted by external agencies, including Govind Ballabh pant Social Science Institute, Lucknow University and Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow. A similar audit in 2016 by Giri Institute of Development Studies (GIDS), Lucknow, focused only on two districts. This time, the...