-The Telegraph New Delhi: Five years after sequencing the pigeonpea genome, Indian scientists have identified Madhya Pradesh as the centre of origin of this nationwide staple legume and discovered genes they say will allow the expansion of pigeonpea cultivation. Scientists at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) near Hyderabad and their collaborators in Australia, China and the US yesterday announced the results of a new study that has traced...

-The Hindu FM allocates Rs.48,000 crore for MGNREGA; says it will be brought under digital scrutiny The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), once described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “living monument of the UPA’s failure,” got its highest ever allocation — Rs.48,000 crore — since its inception over a decade ago.   Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, indicated that the funds dispensed would come under increased digital scrutiny. “The...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: The extent of arable land in Telangana has registered a decline due to growth in industry, construction of houses, urbanisation and infrastructure development. This was revealed by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics of the government in its report on agricultural statistics for 2015-16. The report revealed that the land put to non-agricultural uses rose from 8.19 lakh hectares in 2008-09 to 8.92 lakh hectares in 2015-16. The...

-Frontline.in In the latest Global Hunger Index, India is bracketed in the category of countries where hunger levels are “serious”. But the policy responses on hunger and malnutrition in the country have been inadequate and faulty. In the second week of October, a few media reports in India highlighted significant data pertaining to global hunger. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) had released its Global Hunger Index (GHI), rating 118...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: A government advisory not to grow cotton this kharif crop season has landed state farmers in trouble with prices of alternative crops they were encouraged to grow falling. And rubbing salt into their wounds, the price of cotton has been witnessing a dramatic rise. Further, there has been no word from the government so far on initiating market intervention measures and procuring of produce at minimum support...