-Hindustan Times According to the Central Ground Water Board’s 2019 report, state tops the country in over-exploitation of groundwater at 79% Patiala: The proposed reduction in the area to be covered under traditional water-guzzling paddy in Punjab this year due to labour shortage is likely to give some respite to already depleting groundwater table in the state. As per the target set by the state agriculture department, the department is expecting to reduce...

-Hindustan Times India has moved from a food-scarce economy to a net exporter of food. However, food production does not guarantee food security. Affordability is what matters. New Delhi: The government has announced major agricultural policy changes as part of the economic package it has unveiled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. These include deregulation of farm foods from the Essential Commodities Act (ECA). Farmers have also been allowed to sell...

-Hindustan Times Flood-based irrigation in Haryana, Punjab a threat to groundwater which is depleting over 3 feet every year Chandigarh: Breaking the traditional wheat-paddy cycle is the need of the hour to preserve groundwater for the future generations, reveals a research conducted by scientists of the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal (Haryana). Asserting that the rice crop alone consumes about 50% of the total irrigation water, the researchers have suggested radical...

-Hindustan Times Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Sunday that no Covid-19 case has been reported in 10 states and union territories in the last 24 hours. The number of patients turning critical due to the coronavirus disease Covid-19 has halved, the Union health ministry has said. According to Hindustan Times’ Hindi language publication Hindustan, which is quoting data from the health ministry, only five per cent of Covid-19 patients turn critical. Till...

-Hindustan Times To enable their return to cities, improve wages, living conditions, safety net. Coercion won’t work Migrant workers are like nowhere people. Yet, they are everywhere. From high-rises to highways, who builds them? It is a silent army of migrant workers, working day and night with no job security, no social safety net, and poor living conditions — yet, theirs are not the names we see on the billboards or the...