-Down to Earth The system, which tracks crop burning using satellite data, can also forecast air pollution levels for next 72 hours The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has launched an advanced Air Quality Early Warning System, which can predict places neighbouring Delhi that are likely to burn crop residue on a given day. The system, developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, under MoES, uses data of stubble burning incidents...

-The Hindu Zero Budget Natural Farming has no scientific validation and its inclusion into agricultural policy appears unwise Most criticisms of modern agricultural practices are criticisms of post-Liebig developments in agricultural science. It was after the pioneering work of Justus von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler in organic chemistry in the 19th century that chemical fertilizers began to be used in agriculture. In the 20th century, the criticisms levelled against Green Revolution technologies...

-The Hindu ‘Several States are demanding a register, though they are competent enough to detect and deport foreign nationals’ Before the Centre rolls out a plan to compile a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) on the lines of the document compiled in Assam, it will have to decide a common cut-off date, a senior government official said. Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated his stand on a wider NRC exercise a few days...

-The Hindu Breastfeeding is inversely proportional to household wealth and other factors, says study. Malnutrition among children in urban India is characterised by relatively poor levels of breastfeeding, higher prevalence of iron and Vitamin D deficiency as well as obesity due to long commute by working mothers, prosperity and lifestyle patterns, while rural parts of the country see higher percentage of children suffering from stunting, underweight and wasting and lower consumption of...

-The Telegraph While the corporate tax cuts are a long-term positive, this does not dismiss the case for near-term consumption support The government relented on fiscal discipline to steeply reduce corporate taxes on September 20; the lowest is now 17 per cent for new manufacturing units. The stock market soared, seeing earnings grow after successive downgrades for nearly nine years — about the same time as the investment shortfall that lower taxes...