-Down to Earth Most insects are not harmful but beneficial to humans; without them, nature will lose its balance Any small creature with six jointed legs and a body divided into three parts namely head, thorax and abdomen is known as an ‘insect’. They have wings, two antennae and an exoskeleton. Ants, bees and flies are insects. ‘Entomology’ is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. There may be as many as...

-The Hindu Lawsuits and regulatory moves in the West suggest that their easy, unchecked expansion may be coming to an end It was a long time coming, but the day of reckoning for the big digital companies may finally have arrived. Despite the growing monopoly power of big tech and their use of anti-competitive practices, earlier attempts to regulate them (such as an attempt by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1998...

-Newsclick.in The global study, published by BMC Public Health, revealed that about 44% of the worldwide farming population (total 860 million) are poisoned by pesticides every year. In a comprehensive study published on Monday, December 8, scientists estimated that about 385 million people, particularly among farmers and agriculture workers, are poisoned by pesticides every year including 11,000 deaths per year. Among the fatalities, nearly 60% or 6,600 deaths per year occur in...

-The Indian Express If we truly want to ensure the livelihoods of our farmers and provide safe, healthy, nutritious food for our consumers, it is imperative to make policies that go beyond the productivity trope and populist posturing. Proponents of the three new farm laws have claimed that they will engender competition in agricultural markets and will give farmers a choice to sell wherever they like. The opponents of these laws, including...

-The Hindu MoEF issues fresh guidelines to accelerate Environmental appraisal of projects The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) wants to expedite the Environment appraisal of industrial projects. These appraisals, as per norms, are conducted by independent panels of experts that have representatives from the government as well as from outside, trained in matters of ecology, wildlife and habitat preservation. The Expert Appraisal Committees (EACs) opine on whether a proposed project beyond a...