-The Indian Express It has instructed farmers to go for direct purchase from shops where pesticides recommended by PAU and agriculture department are available given at subsidised rates. Ludhiana: AFTER A pesticide purchase scam came to light following failure of cotton crop due to whitefly attack last October, the agriculture department has decided not to purchase any pesticide this year. It has instructed farmers to go for direct purchase from shops where pesticides...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) and the Karnataka government will form a consortium along with other stakeholders to promote millets. The consortium will work on product Development and build a brand for Karnataka ragi (finger millet). “There is a need to change the image of millets. Make them more modern and create a buzz around them....

-The New Indian Express HYDERABAD: A few select government school students in the city will now be served breakfast thanks to Akshya Patra’s efforts. The NGO  will provide breakfast at 20 government schools in Hyderabad from September. “We will give idly-sambar, upma-chutney and pongal-chutney for breakfast,” said Kaunteya Dasa of Akshaya Patra. The breakfast initiative is funded by Aurobindo Pharma, a pharmaceutical company as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility...

Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW/ NEW DELHI/ JAIPUR: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his I-Day speech that Nagla Fatela village in Hathras (Mahamayanagar) district of Uttar Pradesh had to wait 70 years to get electricity despite being barely three hours away from the national capital, the state power corporation (UPPCL) and the Union power ministry were battling the veracity of that claim. Senior UPPCL officials on Tuesday insisted...