Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
More than a decade after the first commercial plantings of genetically modified crops, the same old disagreement rumbles on. On one side stand agribiotech companies, arguing that crops engineered to produce insecticidal proteins or resist herbicides boost yields in an environmentally friendly way. Opposing them are advocacy groups who charge …
With the aim to study the comparative effects of vermicompost, farm yard manure, biofertilizer and chemical fertilizers on growth, yield and quality of food product, the most common vegetable crop - Lady's Finger was selected and the impact of these four supplements on shoot length, fruits, plant and protein content …
In ancient India, agriculturists were quite aware of the relation between soil properties and crop production. Several systems of soil classification were in vogue. Ancient Indian scriptures contain elaborate injunctions regarding the use of various kinds of manures for crop production.
on october 26, the supreme court asked the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (geac) of the union government to explain why it allowed fresh trials of gm crops. The direction comes on a petition which says the move violated previous rulings of the court on gm crops trial. The court has …
While the country is actively engaged in discussing the nuclear deal, there is little dialogue on another Indo- us deal, which is being quietly implemented. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had signed the Indo- us Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture (kia) in 2005. Singh had called the pact the "harbinger of second …
In February this year, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced that the country could export wheat in the near future. "If the current weather persists and the country's wheat production exceeds 72.5 million tonnes, I will allow exports,' he said. But the minister seems to have done a volte-face on …
how does moist soil get the sweet smell? It's a protein called geosmin that contributes the rich aroma. Though geosmin was identified more than a century ago, researchers from Rhode Island have recently been able to discover it and identify its characteristics. Led by David Cane, scientists from Brown University …
india suffers considerable losses due to crop damage every year. assocham has pegged this loss at Rs 140,000 crore for 2006-07. Unfortunately, there is no way to ascertain whether this or similar statistics are reliable. But the government might just have come up with a monitoring mechanism. The only method …
The temporal and spatial distribution of fruiting forms, their retention and shedding pattern was studied in field-grown Bt cotton hybrids MECH 12, MECH 162 and MECH 184 and their non-Bt (NBt) counterparts at the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, India. Plant phenology in terms of time required for squaring …
Rice and wheat are the two most important staple crops, which play a critical role in food security in India. The paper attempts to analyze the changing pattern of foodgrain production system and derive certain policy interventions in view of its relative importance in achieving avowed growth rates envisaged in …
In India, chemical degradation of lands is taking place at an annual rate of 0.15-Mha. This is about 10 per cent of the annual global rate of about 1.5-Mha. Due to this, about 3.22 per cent of land area in the country has already become salt affected. Literature search reveals …
A leading specialist on biological farming in Australia recently accused the country's top scientific body throwing him out because he had voiced his opposition to genetically modified (gm) crops. Maarten Stapper, a principal research scientist and expert on soil health, had worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation …
flyash, the notorious waste product of coal-based thermal power plants, known for its ill effects on agricultural land, may now come as an aid for the farming community. Scientists of Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, have developed flyash-based herbal pesticide with turmeric, neem, eucalyptus, pepper and chilli dust and found them …
the Supreme Court has permitted conditional field trials of genetically modified (gm) crops approved by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (geac) in 2006. The anti-gm lobby in India, however, says it is not possible to implement the conditions. But the government says that biosafety protocols will be firmly adhered to …
spores of a new variety of black stem rust may reach India from Uganda and hit most of the wheat crop soon. The alarm was raised by the international crop protection body Global Rust Initiative (gri) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, better known by its Spanish acronym …
a new study claims to turn toxic cottonseeds into nutritious dinners for millions of undernourished people across the world. Keerti Rathore, a scientist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, has tinkered with the genes in cottonseeds to stop the release of gossypol, its naturally-occurring toxin. If cottonseeds become edible, it …
peach potato aphids mean nightmares for farmers. The pests affects hundreds of economically important plants including rice, mustard, potato and tobacco. A research team from Kolkata has identified a leaf protein in garlic that shows promising results in eliminating these aphids. Known as Allium sativum leaf lectin (asal), the protein …
tackling pests could just get easier. Helicoverpa Armigera Nuclear Polyhedral virus (hanpv), a microbial insecticide, has so far failed to tackle the Helicoverpa armigera or bollworm, a pest that attacks cotton, redgram, tomato, chillies and other horticultural crops. A new study has, however, found a method to make hanpv effective …
Kavitha Kuruganti I was at the Indian Social Science Congress recently, presenting a paper on genetically engineered crops, raising questions on technology decision-making in Indian agriculture research. The chairperson, an eminent agriculture scientist, intervened and wanted to know what I meant by
A drought-tolerant maize seed has been launched to boost food security in African countries. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture have taken up the programme in 11 African countries that are the most maize-dependent and drought-affected areas. The researchers aim to generate …
