-Live Mint Findings likely to renew row between developed and developing nations over who’s to blame, what needs to be done Global carbon dioxide levels have soared to their highest in 15 years and inched perilously close to the highest ever recorded since such monitoring began in 1959, according to report publicized Wednesday by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The threat of global warming that could unleash a destructive...

-The Economic Times The government plans to revive cultivation of crops that make Punjab's iconic "makki ki roti and sarson ka saag" -- maize and mustard -- along with horticulture and fodder to breathe life into the stressed soil and the rapidly depleting water table in the green-revolution state. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is pushing hard for crop diversification in Punjab and has appointed an inter-ministerial panel on crop diversification led by Agriculture...

-The Hindu Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s budget for 2013-14 will be remembered not only for its strategies to stimulate economic growth and control fiscal deficit, but also for the importance given to the needs of the underprivileged sections of our society. In the field of agriculture, he has adopted the following three pronged strategy: 1. Defend the gains already made in the original Green Revolution areas like Punjab and Haryana: For this purpose...

-Outlook An international row over a ‘world record’ “It’s 120 per cent fake,” Professor Yuan Long Ping (82), hailed as the father of ‘hybrid rice’ in China, had fumed last week in reaction to the claim that five farmers from Bihar had all individually grown more rice per hectare than the ‘world record’ of 19.4 tonnes per hectare in China—the best figure being 22.4 ton­nes. He would believe the claim, he...

-The Hindu   "To the women of India - we have a collective responsibility to ensure the dignity and safety of women. Recent incidents have cast a long dark shadow on our credentials. As more women enter public spaces...there are more reports of violence against them. We stand in solidarity with our girl children. We pledge to everything possible to keep them swcure. A number of measures are in the works...