-The Hindu Kochi: The Kerala Agricultural University has found "dangerous levels" of pesticide residue in key vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, vegetable cowpea (achinga), amaranthus red, small red onions, tomatoes, green chillies and curry leaves, among others. The residue includes that of the banned Profenofos, which falls into the yellow category (second level of pesticides in the toxicity classification) and which has translaminar action (the toxin entering the plant system primarily by roots,...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The forests and environment department has started a plantation audit to find out the survival rate of saplings planted over the years within the city LIMits. A total of 9,67,362 saplings were planted in past three years but no one knows the survival rate of the saplings. Forest officials say a survival rate of 70 to 75 per cent is a healthy sign for any plantation drive. But the numbers...

-IPS News ROME: The growing consensus, momentum and commitment to eradicate world hunger may seem overly ambitious in view of the slow progress in reducing the number of hungry people in the world in recent decades. After all, declining food prices in the second half of the 20th century, thanks to increasing production, were not enough to eLIMinate poverty and hunger in the world. In the 1960s and 1970s, many governments invested a...

-The Indian Express Lucknow: The free laptop distribution scheme of Samajwadi Party government has caught the eye of Microsoft, world's largest software company, which is going to conduct a detailed study on the most populist scheme in UP. Microsoft has engaged Mumbai-based Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) to conduct a study of the scheme and prepare literature on its planning, execution and response of beneficiaries. A team of IMRB will be visiting...

-The Hindu Manoharpur (Jharkhand): Deep inside the Saranda sal forest, Thalkobad lies at the core of what was a CPI (Maoist) "liberated zone" in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district along the Odisha border. Thalkobad, along with 24 other villages, was reclaimed by the Indian state after a massive military operation - Operation Anaconda-I in August 2011 to destroy the CPI (Maoist) Eastern Regional Bureau and several training camps inside Saranda. The village...