-The Times of India NAGPUR: A Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions has urged the government to review meat export policy and recommended not to grant permission for any new slaughter house until a critical analysis by a dedicated commission is complete. It also advocated a review of policy of giving subsidies to meat exporters. The report was submitted on February 13 by a 10-member committee headed by Bhagat Singh Koshyari. MP from...

-Down to Earth Demand farm income commission; urge political parties to make it an election issue A number of farmers' organisations got together on Thursday to demand a minimum living income equivalent to that of agricultural scientists for all farm households in the country and asked political parties to make it a part of their poll manifesto. Citing NSSO findings, they said the average monthly income of farm households in the country...

As the challenge of global warming looms large, the importance of climate resilient agriculture (CRA) gets recognized by both scientific and farming communities. Countries like India are expected to be intensely affected by climate change since majority of the population is primarily dependent on agriculture for livelihood. CRA, encompassing adaptation and mitigation strategies and the effective use of biodiversity at all levels-genes, species and ecosystems-should, therefore, be India's response towards...

-PTI WASHINGTON: Agricultural population of India grew by a whopping 50 per cent between 1980 and 2011, the highest for any country during this period, followed by China with 33 per cent, while that of the United States dropped by 37 per cent as a result of large scale mechanisation, a latest report has said. "Between 1980 and 2011, the economically active agricultural populations of China and India grew by 33...

-The Hindu     Some changes were ordered on the direct instructions of the Prime Minister The Prime Minister's office has repeatedly ordered and orchestrated dilution of environment and forest clearances in order to fast-pace industrial projects, documents with The Hindu show. In a series of orders and missives sent to the Union Environment and Forests Ministry over 2012-2013, the PMO instructed that regulations and norms had to be diluted or done away with. These...