-The Hindu A novel initiative of bringing farmers and consumers together turns out to be a win-win deal ARJUN NAIK TANDA (SANGAREDDY DT): Chandi Bai, a 50-year-old farmer, had a memorable day on Sunday at Arjun Naik Tanka in Hoti B mandal when several consumers, who have invested in her farm, participated in a harvesting ceremony. She welcomed the visitors with sweets that she had made, lit a lamp and offered prayers and...

-TheWire.in Most of the ‘reforms’ that are being introduced to address poor delivery of social services are silent on the issue of inadequate human resources, among other shortfalls in capacity. The poor performance of the public sector especially in education, health and other social services has been the subject of a lot of debates in the last few decades. The dominant narrative has attributed implementation failures to corruption, lack of accountability, poor...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A team of 40 IIT Delhi students has devised a way to fight air pollution - by replacing wood with cow dung "logs" during funerals. The "environment-friendly technique" also seeks to reduce deforestation by cutting down dependence on wood. "Arth, an initiative by Enactus IIT-D, targets replacing wood as a fuel at Delhi's crematoriums," said Faraz Mazhar, a member of the group. According to his teammate, Shalaka...

-The Hindu Business Line The gel, poly-Oxime has been prepared by InStem researchers from nucleophilic polymer New Delhi: Indian farmers usually do not wear any protective gear while spraying chemicals in fields. This exposes them to harmful toxics contained in pesticides, causing severe health impacts and even death in extreme cases. Indian scientists have now developed a protective gel to address this problem. The gel can be applied on skin and can break...

-The Hindu Farm equipment which can root out this practice not universally accessible despite govt. subsidy Patiala: Between September 27 and October 14, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) imposed Rs. 8,92,500 as fines — or “environmental compensation cess” as it is officially called — on farmers burning paddy stubble. However, they collected only Rs. 3,05,000, according to figures from the organisation. “The fines are collected over time … frequently the farmers don’t...