-DNA The Modi government’s soil-testing scheme doesn’t address the causes of agrarian distress In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an ambitious Rs568 crore Soil Health Card (SHC) scheme. The objective of the three-year scheme is to issue soil health cards to 14 crore farmers spread across India. The cards will be given out after determining the quality of soil, identifying its macro- and micronutrients as well as its...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: "Our lungs have not yet fully developed and we cannot take further pollution through bursting of crackers," said three infants in their petition before the Supreme Court seeking a ban on crackers this Dussehra and Diwali besides a host of measures like implementation of Bharat V norms for vehicles to arrest the capital's worsening air quality. In a first of its kind petition in judicial history,...

-The Hindu Kutalapalli in Anantapur district has more borewells per capita than any other village in the world. All but three of them are dry   It's as if the entire village has become poor by just drilling borewells.-B. Venkat Reddy, farmer    KUTALAPALLI (Telengana): Welcome to Kutalapalli village in Nallamada mandal, once famous for its quality raw silk. Once upon a time, this village amidst two hills had ample water for mulberry cultivation. Cut...

-Business Standard India’s growth in agriculture and allied activities has struggled to reach the targeted four per cent average a year in the first three years of the 12th five-year Plan because of a host of factors. The below-average farm growth is widely expected to deepen the crisis in the farm sector. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, newly-appointed member of NITI Aayog and eminent agriculture economist Ramesh Chand  said over-reliance...

-The Times of India MHOW: Faced with problem of lean margins for their produce in local markets, farmers of Harsola and adjoining villages in Mhow tehisl came together and tied up with middleman outside the state to become most prominent suppliers of quality produce to Delhi and Gujarat. In less than three years, nondescript villages have become hub of cauliflower trading and are now famously called gobhi gaon. It is a tale...