-The Hindu People may have long stopped speaking Sanskrit, but I don’t find a decline in interest in the subject, says Sarathi Hembram. Kolkata: Sarathi Hembram lives in a rural pocket of West Bengal, where life is largely untouched by the acrimonious political arguments vitiating social media, but she is aware what’s going on in the Banaras Hindu University at the moment. Thanks to TV, she has got to know about the protests...

-India Water Portal Excessive and unregulated pesticide use has not only poisoned the soil, water and environment in villages in Punjab’s Malwa region – it has also INCreased health risks for the people Punjab, riding high on pesticides Pesticide use continues to be very high in agriculture in India, where estimated annual production losses due to pests amount to approximately US$ 42.66 million per year. Pesticides are chemical compounds that kill pests such...

-The Hindu Business Line India can benefit substantially on multiple fronts such as nutritional security, energy and water utilisation and even cut its greenhouse gas emissions if it promotes the cultivation of coarse cereals, showed a study by researchers from India, Austria and the US. During the Green Revolution of the 1960s and the 1970s, the focus has mainly been on INCreasing rice and wheat output. As a result, a large number...

-The Hindu Surveys, INCluding the recently leaked one on consumer expenditure, point to the economy’s dire state How fast has India grown lately? And, what are the yardsticks on which the country’s performance is being measured? These have remained contentious questions. Following the last decade’s boom, the economy was slowing after 2011-2012, but apparently turned around under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. Until very recently, the government claimed the economic success...

-Livemint.com * At a time when rural INComes are sliding, the only existing safety net for the farmer is failing * High costs of reinsurance due to erratic weather, a spike in claims, political interference in crop loss estimation are reasons that forced some insurers to leave the business NEW DELHI: Santosh Kumar’s first brush with insurance left a bitter aftertaste. A farmer’s son, 26-year-old Kumar from Bihar’s Araria district felt betrayed when...