-The Hindu Business Line Asks firm to own up responsibility; threatens to stop selling seeds Hyderabad: The National Seed Association of India, which represents the majority of the cotton seed companies in the country, has blamed Mahyco Monsanto and Monsanto India for widespread resistance developed by pink bollworm to Bollgard-II, the second-generation genetically modified cotton seed technology. The association has threatened to stop selling the seeds developed with BG-II technology if the two...

-The Indian Express Animal Husbandry Minister Antarsingh Arya said the recommendations were under consideration but have not been sent to the state Cabinet. Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government is considering a proposal to treat abandonment of cows as an offence and give district collectors the power to book owners who abandon their cows under the IPC. “The existing law can penalise only the kasai (butcher) when caught and not the owners who abandon...

-TheSundayGuardianLive.com Delhi’s problem of being covered by smoke started right after the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act in 2009, which delayed the burning of crops till late October, was implemented for the first time. Until a few years ago, when farmers in Punjab burnt the remnants of the rice crops in their fields in preparation for sowing wheat, the smoke from such fires was confined to Punjab. Back then, farmers burnt...

-Hindustan Times Herein lies the crisis of farmer politicians. They have neither aspirations nor the power of coercion working for them. Rural distress dominated discussions around the political-economy in 2017, and will likely continue to do so in 2018, much to the consternation of political incumbents. Those in opposition will be looking forward to harvesting this anger for their own benefit. One question is worth asking though. Where is the farmer-politician in...

-The Economic Times A rise of just 2 degrees Celsius in global warming could make over a quarter of the world's land to become drier and more desert like, increasing the threat of widespread drought and wildfires, new research led by one of Indian origin has found. The study showed that reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere to limit global warming under 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius would dramatically reduce the...