-The Asian Age The NGOs have warned against treating poor children across the state as guinea pigs, putting their health at risk. Mumbai: Instead of providing hot cooked, nutritious meals to malnourished kids, the state women and child welfare department  has recently decided to purchase corporate-manufactured ‘ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF)’ packets for severely malnourished children across Maharashtra. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on August 4, permitting the use...

-Firstpost.com After Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh has now been rocked by farmer unrest. At least six farmers were killed and eight others were critically injured on Tuesday when the police resorted to firing to subdue the protesting farmers in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh. In both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the farmers’ demands are almost similar: they want complete farm loan waiver as a short-term palliative and secondly, institutionalised mechanism for getting better prices...

-Livemint.com Activists who are ideologically opposed to genetically modified crop technology have unleashed a virulent campaign to stall the GM Mustard cultivation Seven-and-a-half years ago, BT Brinjal, developed by two public agricultural universities, was approved for commercial cultivation by the genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC), a statutory body. BT Brinjal is inherently resistant to the notorious fruit and shoot borer (FSB) pest and therefore produces a marketable crop without the large number...

-The Hindu Dumping of solid waste has badly affected five river basins in the State Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Microbial contamination due to sewage discharge and dumping of solid waste has affected the water quality in five river basins in Kerala, highlighting the need for stricter monitoring and management of water resources. The findings have been published by the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) based on a study of the Mogral, Chittari...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: What has made the Maharashtra farmer hit the streets, dump his produce and even attack suppliers? A combination of weather, unscrupulous middlemen and lack of discretion on crop seems to have wreaked havoc on their lives. Rainfall in Maharashtra has been deficient in 2011 and the situation turned worse leading to a severe drought till 2015. In 2016, farmers got relief with normal rains, when they got back...