-The News Minute Rice Diversity Blocks in Kerala and five other states preserve over 1,000 indigenous varieties of rice that were at risk of being lost. In the Indian subcontinent, the birthplace of paddy, the colours of the crop’s many varieties are as diverse as the land, its people, languages, cultures, costumes, dialects and so on. But most of that variety was lost, when farmers were asked to forgo indigenous varieties...

-The Economic Times BENGALURU: The state pollution authority has warned action against industrial units in Peenya after a four-year study by scientists traced the source of contamination in the Vrishabhavathi river to the effluents discharged by them. The contamination is also getting into the food chain as the water containing heavy metals is used by farmers to grow vegetables, notably baby corn. Scientists from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the...

-Hindustan Times Plight of the migrants: Jobless labourers return home after demonetisation Twenty-three-year-old Avinash Kumar is planning to postpone his sister’s marriage. The money he had saved, working at a sweatshop in New Delhi’s Mongolpuri, is all but gone. Kumar lost his job in about two weeks from the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, in a move that he termed as the biggest-ever...

  As per the Section 16 of National Food Security Act (NFSA), for the purpose of monitoring and review of implementation of the Act, every state shall, by notification, constitute a State Food Commission (SFC). However, based on the minutes of a meeting that was held by the Secretary in the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution on 9th November, 2016, the Attorney General of India has informed a two-judge Supreme Court...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has started to fumble for explanations, with the original raison d'etre for the demonetisation drive coming under strain because of the high volume of cash deposits that have poured into bank accounts. Almost 80 per cent of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were demonetised on November 9 has come straight back into the banking system, prompting the government to change the...