-The Financial Express In Madhya Pradesh’s tribal districts of Dewas and Khargone, the NGO, Samaj Pragati Sahayog, discourages cash transactions for agricultural inputs. The interest rates are usurious and vary according to commodities. For fertiliser, it is dheda—loan for the stuff has to be repaid 1.5 times over by the end of the harvest season. For pesticides it is sawa, or 1.25 times. Even barter can be extortionate. One quintal of...

-The Telegraph Darjeeling: The delay in snowfall in the upper reaches of Sikkim and Darjeeling by over a month may be a damper to snow-chasing tourists and local people, but may reflect either changing weather patterns or special circumstances this year, scientists say. Sikkim has experienced the highest increase in annual average minimum temperature across India's states, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has documented - a finding that has puzzled sections of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal barred on Thursday any fresh constructions under the environment ministry's December 9 notification exempting real estate projects of all sizes from environment impact assessment and environmental clearance. The NGT has received two applications questioning legal issues with the December 9 notification, which even has a "self-declaration" clause that will ensure issuance of permission from urban local bodies. For larger projects of more...

-Down to Earth Eighteen months and Rs 4,275.31 crores later, not even 0.1 per cent of the project could be completed "By the time the nation completes 75 years of its Independence (2022), every family will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7 electricity supply and access." It was May 2014 and the Modi-led government had just come to power. A year later, during the presentation of Annual...

-The Hoot Anupam Mishra was a greatly respected journalist who stayed away from the limelight but wrote with insight on water and the environment. Anupam Mishra, who died in Delhi on December 19 at the age of 68, had been one of the most respected persons in the Hindi media for at least two decades. For several years he had been the editor of Hindi Gandhi Marg, a much-admired  journal with...