-PTI At least 22 people have died in Kerala due to heavy rains and landslides, the Home Ministry said on Thursday. According to Kerala State Emergency Operations Centre, 22 people have lost their lives due to the heavy rains and landslides on Wednesday night. According to a home ministry spokesperson, of the total deaths, 11 people died in Idukki district, five in Malappuram district, three in Wayanad, two in Kannur and one...

-The New Indian Express THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vegetables produced in the state are now safer, according to the Agriculture Department as 93.6 per cent of samples of vegetables tested in the Kerala Agricultural University labs were devoid of pesticides. Only 38 of the 543 samples tested showed mild presence of toxins, and of these, only four revealed the presence of banned pesticides, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar said. The samples were taken...

-The Hindu Business Line Eleven years since its inception, the State’s farmer’s debt relief commission has quietly eased the burden of debt on poor farmers, and grown to be a model worth emulating Earlier this week 35,000 debt-ridden farmers coursed through Maharashtra, walking 180 km on blistered soles, to converge at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding freedom from debt and fair compensation for their produce. As the government scrounged for solutions, it could’ve...

-The Hindu Malnutrition is a complex problem and results from not getting enough food to not getting the right kind of food, says the United Nations WFP (India) Country Director Even with the world's largest subsidised food distribution systems serving 65 million poor families across the country, India continues to be home to a quarter of all malnourished people worldwide. In view of the incredible challenge of improving nutrition for all people...

-The Indian Express In 2016, south interior Karnataka recorded 22 per cent deficit rainfall during the southwest monsoon season (June-September). Reservoir levels in the Cauvery basin have fallen lower with back-to-back monsoon failure and Karnataka is headed to Assembly elections in barely eight months. If Maharashtra, particularly Marathwada, was the epicentre of drought in 2014 and 2015, that has now seemingly shifted deep southward to a stretch covering the old Mysore region...