-The Times of India BENGALURU: Farmer suicides have been on the rise in neighbouring Maharashtra and Telangana. But Karnataka appears to be bucking the trend, with the number of cases showing a sharp decline over the past five years. According to latest data from the state Agriculture department, the number of farmers' suicide in Karnataka has declined from 145 in 2009-10 to 50 in 2014. This despite drought and other natural calamities...

-The Hindu Implementation in a phased manner: Mohanan ALAPPUZHA (Kerala): Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan has said that the government is seriously considering a ban on use of chemical fertilizers in the State. He was inaugurating an exhibition-cum-sale of dairy, agricultural, and industrial products organised by the Chengannur block panchayat here on Wednesday evening. Mr. Mohanan said the government was mulling over implementing the ban in a phased manner from next year. He said a study...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Vegetables are the noble folk of food world, loved equally by doctors and grandmothers. Vegetarians live off them and meat-eaters are told to live off them. But in Delhi, under every crunchy leaf of radish or the shiny brinjal hide dangerous amounts of pesticides that can slowly kill, shows a new study by JNU. Pritha Chatterjee and Aniruddha Ghosal report how growers, consumers and the authorities may...

-IPS News NAGAPATNAM, India - Standing amidst his lush green paddy fields in Nagapatnam, a coastal district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a farmer named Ramajayam remembers how a single wave changed his entire life. The simple farmer was one of thousands whose agricultural lands were destroyed by the 2004 Asian tsunami, as massive volumes of saltwater and metre-high piles of sea slush inundated these fertile fields in the...

-The Indian Express Thefts from the public distribution system (PDS) are consistently rising and, according to the latest data for FY12, were a little over Rs 48,000 crore - or roughly the same as the median loss estimated by the CAG for the telecom scam of 2008. Just that unlike the 2G scam, the PDS theft happens every year. And its value rises as the costs of wheat and rice go up...