-The Times of India JALANDHAR: Punjab farmers have started sowing wheat as paddy harvesting enters the last stage with just one-fifth of the crop left to be cut in fields. Paddy stubble management, however, continues to be vexatious issue, both for the farmers and the state administration. The lack of gap between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat and increased time and high cost of operating subsidised straw management machines have left farmers...

-The Telegraph Indians are unwittingly eating more and more genetically modified (GM) products every day A few months ago, researchers of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) chanced upon something quite alarming while testing samples of breakfast cereals, infant food, edible oils and other food products at their state-of-the-art laboratory in Nimli, Rajasthan. Their sensitive qPCR instrument reported the presence of genetically modified (GM) ingredients in almost one-third of these...

-The Economic Times CHANDIGARH: Around 500 mills across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan will have to stop operations from November 4, under directions of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority. EPCA has asked all biomass and coal-based industries in the National Capital Region to remain closed to help keep a check on air pollution. The measure will not only affect NCR’s mills but also farmers in paddy-growing states as mills restrict...

-TheWire.in Premium collected by insurance companies has increased by Rs 36,848 crore, while the number of farmers covered has increased only by 0.42%, according to RTI data obtained by The Wire. New Delhi: In January 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a revamped crop insurance scheme, his government’s flagship scheme for farmers, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). It would “bring about a major transformation in the lives of farmers”, Modi...

-The Hindu Hundreds of species of pollinators may be in dangerous decline Across India’s agrarian plains, plantations and orchards, millions of birds, bats and insects toil to pollinate crops. However, many of these thousands of species may be in dangerous decline. In 2015, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that pollinators lead to huge agricultural economic gains. The report estimated pollinator contribution in India to be $0.831-1.5 billion...