-The Hindu The fact that a megapolis, and not the drought-affected areas of Maharashtra, is the biggest beneficiary, has angered many Bristling with glass towers and commercial districts, Mumbai is unquestionably the financial capital of India. The most greenery an average Mumbaikar can hope to grow is a few herbs in window flower-pots. Which is why it seems strange that the city will be the biggest beneficiary of agriculture loans, as projected by...

-PTI Mobile phone production in India has reached 100 million with leading companies setting up their manufacturing base in the country, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday. “Today, I am happy to announce that in December, Rs. 1.14 lakh crore investment has come in electronic manufacturing in India. “We have attracted around 15 new mobile plants.” “Earlier in 2014, 68 million (mobile phones) were being manufactured and now 100 million are...

-The Hindu In order to have a chance of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we need suitable technologies to make low-carbon transitions in development right away Now that the Paris Conference of the Parties (COP) meet is long over, countries need to concentrate on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which need to peak soon and go to zero by mid-century if there is to be a chance of preventing average...

-Economic and Political Weekly Agriculture cannot be revived without a different approach to water, soil, crops and research. For the second year in succession, rainfall in the monsoon season has been less than normal. As many as 302 out of the 640 districts in the country have been declared drought-hit and the impact of the drought is the severest in nine major states of south, central and east India. It is striking...

-The Indian Express New crop insurance scheme is welcome. Its litmus test: Whether crop-damage assessment can be done within two weeks of the extreme weather event and compensation paid a week after that The Narendra Modi-led government needs to be complimented for taking the first major step to revamp the crop insurance system to address the increasing distress in Indian farming. With back-to-back droughts, and unseasonal rain and hail in certain...