-Hindustan Times Brown planthoppers have been particularly pestilent in the kharif season this year. Distressed farmers from the nine affected districts in Odisha are setting fire to their destroyed crops. Bargarh: Landless farmer Brunda Sahoo’s hopes soared early October when he saw lush green paddy crop standing on 15 acres he cultivated as a sharecropper. He told his family they could repair their house and marry off his daughter after selling...

-PTI Mumbai: Maharashtra government will provide cheap and assured electricity to farmers across the state through solar feeders in the next three years, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said. He was speaking after performing the Bhumipujan (ground breaking ceremony) for first solar project under the ’Mukhyamantri Agricultural Solar Feeder’ scheme at Ralegan Siddhi. Veteran social activist Anna Hazare was also present. “The important decision of using solar powered feeders has been taken to become...

-The Indian Express Exclusion and denial of benefits to the poor needs urgent attention The news last month of the starvation death of an 11-year-old girl in the Simdega district in Jharkhand, allegedly because of denial of PDS ration due to Aadhaar linking problems, is appalling. The Aadhaar ecosystem definitely needs to pass a stringent welfare test much more crucially than the privacy test. Aadhaar undeniably has potential, and can perhaps even be...

-Newsclick.in A World Bank study ignores slumping economy and raging joblessness to praise ‘reforms’. A charming little bromance seems to be brewing between the World Bank and India’s Modi-led government. A series of reports by the World Bank has praised Modi for various kinds of “reforms”. The latest is the so called “Doing Business” report of the World Bank which lavishes praise on the Modi govt. for making it easier to do...

-Hindustan Times 90% Delhiites don’t know how to dispose of their trash, according to a study. Experts say most people don’t realise the consequence of discarding e-waste, or any trash, in an improper manner. Ever wondered where does all your old and worn-out gadgets go after you chuck them in the bin or sell them to the junk dealer? Experts say they come back to you in the form of toxic fumes...