-The Tribune   Jind: There's a novel experiment underway in an acre-and-a-half at Jind's Nidana village. A group of farmers, most of them illiterate, are out to prove a point to scientists and experts: agriculture is possible without pesticides and more profitable than with the use of pesticides. Scientists of the Delhi-based National Centre for Integrated Pest Management New Delhi (NCIPM), with the help of the state Agriculture Department, have taken an acre-and-a-half...

-The Hindu   Gujarat Dalit women's cooperative is fighting for entitlement to land it has reclaimed VAUTHA (AHMEDABAD DISTRICT, Gujarat): It's early morning, but the summer sun is already beating down on the row of women busy with their hoes. In Gujarat, known for the cooperative dairy movement, a group of Dalit women farmers from Vautha village in Dholka block of Ahmedabad district are pioneering the demand for land entitlement, for a one of...

-The Hindu Business Line     A set of technologies that deals with production and marketing constraints can work wonders Indian agriculture faces herculean challenges today; yet, the near- and the medium-term outlook on agriculture and agri-businesses seem bright. Growing urbanisation and changing food habits, malnutrition plus declining areas under foodgrain pose a big threat to food security. Agriculture and food production are strongly influenced by international trade, credit availability, development co-operation, climate change and environmental...

-Down to Earth   The Badaun rape incident shows how vulnerable women are to sexual violence when there are no toilets in homes The shocking incident of gang rape and murder of two minor girls in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district has drawn horrified reactions from leaders across the world. While most of the media attention has been on the apathy and insensitivity shown by the Akhilesh Yadav government and the police force, what...

-The Telegraph   The European Union has banned the import of Indian mangoes as they failed to pass its stringent biosecurity regulations. Does India too need tougher biosecurity laws to protect its crops from pests and diseases? When a few pesky fruit flies tried to migrate from India, they ended up sparking a debate on the effectiveness of India's agricultural biosecurity laws and regulations. While some agriculture experts believe the laws are...