-The Indian Express Indian-American soil scientist Dr Rattan Lal said in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh soils are degraded and depleted because ‘organic matter' is quite below (.5-.2 per cent). In the past five decades, the state had achieved several firsts in the field of agriculture and even became the first state in the country to install soil fertility map in each village to improve soil health. But the soil of Punjab...

-The Hindu Farmers should not panic because they are too few in number to pose any threat, say agriculture departments of both States Chandigarh: Presence of locusts in a few villages of Punjab and Haryana bordering Rajasthan has raised anxiety among farmers about their crops. The agriculture departments of both the States have asked the farmers not to panic as it was “not a serious threat”'. Experts believe that appearance of locusts in...

  Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...

-Down to Earth One of the major causes behind suicidal intent is depression, experts find while studying cases in Punjab, Telangana and Maharashtra Farmer suicides, which have till now been studied economically and agriculturally, are now being looked at from behavioural and psychological angles. A study is being conducted under the National Agricultural Science Fund of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in three states — Punjab, Telangana and Maharashtra. Punjab Agricultural University...

-The Indian Express Punjab government’s data states that 3,330 farmers have taken their lives due to farm debt since 2000 till date, of which 698 committed suicide in the past four years, most of them in the Malwa region. Over the past few years, ‘farm debt’ has been one of the main reasons behind farmers and farm labourers committing suicide in Punjab. Farmer groups, state universities’ and government data have indicated...