-The Telegraph New Delhi: Five years after sequencing the pigeonpea genome, Indian scientists have identified Madhya Pradesh as the centre of origin of this nationwide staple legume and discovered genes they say will allow the expansion of pigeonpea cultivation. Scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) near Hyderabad and their collaborators in Australia, China and the US yesterday announced the results of a new study that has traced...

-Frontline Low prices following a bumper crop and the State government’s inability to procure much of the yield leave tur farmers in Maharashtra in a quandary. DROUGHT or abundance, farmers seem to be perpetually doomed in Maharashtra. The most recent crisis unfolding in the agrarian segment is the crashing prices of pulses, particularly tur dal, and the inability of the State government to procure the entire crop. Adding to the problem...

-Livemint.com All our solutions in agriculture, besides management issues, are going to come from science and technology, says Deepak Pental, innovator of GM mustard Last week, the environment ministry’s regulator, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), cleared the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) mustard, leaving it to the government to take a final call. If approved, it will be India’s first food crop developed using transgenic technology, 15 years after Bt...

-The Indian Express Six months later, it is clear that it achieved next to nothing, and inflicted a large cost on the poor and the informal sector. It was six months ago, on November 8, that India hit the headlines the world over, with its sudden demonetisation. It was announced in the evening that, at the stroke of the midnight hour, all bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would cease...

-Livemint.com While initial monsoon forecast bodes well for the season that accounts for over 70% of annual rainfall, IMD also predicts of 50% chance of weak El Nino formation from Sept New Delhi: India’s annual monsoon forecast sends social media into overdrive and is splashed across newspapers. This year’s outlook has some analysts warning that weather watchers may be disappointed. India is set for a normal June to September monsoon, with rainfall...