-The Indian Express Pesticide Management Bill should address the anomalies that prevent State Governments from booking large pesticide companies. “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter,” goes an old African proverb, which is also apt to describe the state of the world’s farmers. Farmers are like the hunted lions who need their side of the story told and their sacrifices, agony, courage and fears...

-The Hindu Business Line Asks firm to own up responsibility; threatens to stop selling seeds Hyderabad: The National Seed Association of India, which represents the majority of the cotton seed companies in the country, has blamed Mahyco Monsanto and Monsanto India for widespread resistance developed by pink bollworm to Bollgard-II, the second-generation genetically modified cotton seed technology. The association has threatened to stop selling the seeds developed with BG-II technology if the two...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre has decided to pump an additional Rs 7,000 crore into the rural job scheme, which is being read by critics as an undeclared sign that economic distress is forcing more people to fall back on unskilled jobs in villages. The Union finance ministry has granted Rs 3,500 crore from the Consolidated Fund of India and asked the rural development ministry to divert another Rs 3,500 crore...

-PTI The statement by UIDAI, which is also planning legal action, comes after news reports that anonymous sellers were offering unrestricted access to Aadhaar details for Rs 500 over WhatsApp. The UIDAI on Thursday dismissed reports of full Aadhaar details being made available on payment of Rs 500 by anonymous sellers, asserting that its system is “secure” and any misuse can be traced and action taken as it maintains a complete...

-The Economic Times New Delhi: The government has come out with a draft model contract farming act, which industry insiders said will protect farmers from price risks and encourage food processing companies to invest more in infrastructure and farming technology once states adopt it. The agriculture ministry has put up the model act on its website for various stakeholders, including contract farming and value chain promoting companies, producers' organisations and farmers, to...