-ANI Chairman Standing Committee of Parliament on Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Hukmdev Narayan Yadav called for concerted efforts to forge an R and D-led strategy to save the loss of crops due to pests, weeds and diseases. An estimated 15-25 percent of potential crop production is lost due this menace at a time when India needs not only to raise production but also ensure food security and nutrition for its growing consumption...

-Hindustan Times Babus will need to be careful what they say, or draw, on social media. The Centre on Tuesday proposed changes to the rulebook to explicitly treat criticism of government policies on social media as a violation of conduct rules. And the threat of disciplinary action for criticising the government is not limited to the written word. It includes caricatures that are uncharitable to the government too. On the other hand, the new...

-TheGuardian.com Hardworking women in India care for family members, cook, clean, garden, sew and farm without getting paid. When will official statistics recognise this? Women’s participation in work is an indicator of their status in a society. Paid work offers more opportunities for women’s agency, mobility and empowerment, and it usually Leads to greater social recognition of the work that women do, whether paid or unpaid. Where women’s work participation rates are relatively...

-The Times of India Pune: Torrential rain over some areas in the last few days has helped soothe the parched state, but experts advise that this will not end the spate of droughts. Those in the know point out that lack of rainfall does not necessarily Lead to a crippling shortage of water, but it results from a lack of policies, missing drought-proofing infrastructure and lackadaisical institutional mechanisms. "It will be a normal...

-The Indian Express New FDI policy in food products is unlikely to be a game-changer by itself. Government must clear up the policy environment. n a rather bold move on June 20, the Modi government opened several key sectors such as defence, pharmaceuticals, civil aviation and food products to 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI). The objective behind this FDI policy is to attract higher investments, better technologies in manufacturing, commerce,...