-Down to Earth The system, which tracks crop burning using satellite data, can also forecast air pollution levels for next 72 hours The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has launched an advanced Air Quality Early Warning System, which can predict places neighbouring Delhi that are likely to burn crop residue on a given day. The system, developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, under MoES, uses data of stubble burning incidents...

-PTI * India, ranked 13 on Aqueduct's list of 'extremely highly' water stressed countries * 'Water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about,' said President and CEO of the World Resources Institute Washington: India is among the 17 countries, which are a home to a quarter of the world’s population, facing "extremely high" water stress, close to "Day Zero" conditions when the taps run dry, according to a report unveiled...

-The Hindu * What does the scheme offer? The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, announced in the Budget earlier this month, aims to give ?6,000 a year to 12 crore farmer families who own up to two hectares of cultivable land. * What are the challenges? The number of beneficiaries comes from the number of land holdings of two hectares or less, according to the last agricultural land census. However, the guidelines say...

-The Hindu Three out of five farmers in India grow their crops using rainwater, instead of irrigation. However, per hectare government investment into their lands may be 20 times lower, government procurement of their crops is a fraction of major irrigated land crops, and many of the government’s flagship agriculture schemes are not tailored to benefit them. A new rainfed agriculture atlas released this week not only Maps the agro biodiversity and...

-The Indian Express Why Niti Aayog’s evaluation of Sustainable Development Goals has room for improvement. The NITI Aayog should be complimented for releasing the “SDG India Index Baseline Report 2018”. The document tracks India’s progress at the sub-national level on 13 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The launch of an index that Maps India’s endeavours at sustainable development is significant in several ways. The performance of the world’s second-most...