The Indian Express

“A matchbox costs just Rs 2, you know,” says Ram Pal Rana, as he collects and piles up dry straw on one side of his 3-acre paddy field at Uchana village in Haryana’s Karnal, around 130 km from Delhi. In the distance, a plume of white smoke spirals up as the crop stubble and straw on adjacent fields are set on fire.

The Indian Express

Increasing air pollution across India is a serious issue, and despite conscientious debates around it, systematic steps haven’t been taken by authorities on-ground to address it. The air quality of Delhi NCR has worsened to the extent of the region being compared to a gas chamber, and reasons include both human and non-human activities. Emissions from exhaust pipes of vehicles, burning of stubble in paddy fields in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, dust from construction sites, burning of trash containing plastic, rubber and metal, bursting of firecrackers during Diwali, and residential fuel burning in villages nearby constitute human activities. There are certain non-human activities like pre-monsoon dust storms and unfavourable wind currents that add to ...

The Statesman

The Haryana government on Thursday said paddy straw burning cases have reduced considerably during the current paddy harvesting season.“Till 10 October 2018, crop had been harvested on 4.01 lakh hectares and there was arrival of 20 lakh tonnes of paddy in the various mandis of the state.

The Hindu Business Line

The Indian economy might be the bright spot in a gloomy global economic environment after having surpassed China’s growth rate., But there is still little doubt over the supremacy of China in any of the economic sectors.

The Economic Times

The government would seek Election Commission’s permission to effect a steep 40-60% increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of minor forest produce (MFP) in tribal dominated states — a move which would benefit tribals in pollbound BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh which have a sizeable tribal population.

The Hindu

Chief Secretary to Telangana Government S.K. Joshi on Thursday said over 800 delegates, including those involved in research on new varieties of seed, its production and quality, from about 83 countries would attend the Internationl Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Congress to be held here from June 26 to July 3 next year. Speaking at the curtain-raiser, Mr. Joshi said it was a great opportunity for farmers, scientists and officials of Telangana to make use of the event being held for the first time in the country as also in Asia for capacity-building in seed research, production and quality aspects.

The Hindu

With a view to double the farmers’ income, the Union government has taken decisions such as paying 1.5 times the cost of cultivation borne by them and providing online National Agriculture Market (NAM) platform, said chairman of the Committee on Doubling the Farmers Income and CEO of the National Rainfed Area Authority Ashok Dalwai.