Haryana has achieved the highest ever productivity of kharif foodgrains-2012-13 and also recorded the highest ever rice production of 39.76 lakh tonnes since the inception of the state in 1966. This has been achieved despite the state received about 36.8 per cent less rainfall as against the normal rainfall from May to September, 2012.

A spokesman for the Haryana Agriculture Department said in case of coarse rice, 23.54 lakh tonnes of production with a productivity of 40.03 quintals per hectare in an area of 5.88 lakh hectares had been achieved. “This has remained highest both in production and productivity since 1966-67,” he said. Similarly, the production of basmati rice was also achieved at 16.22 lakh tonnes with a productivity of 25.87 quintals per hectare in an area of 6.27 lakh hectares which was also the highest since 1966-67.

An indigenous Bt cotton variety Bt Bikaneri Narma developed through a collaborative effort can no more be used for cultivation.

With organic farming having great potential in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state government is planning to set up a separate agency for certification of organic products.

A Bench of the Lok Adalat has observed that the use of banned pesticides has led to cervical and breast cancer among female agriculture labourers in six districts which fall under the Gulbarga revenue division.

The Bench comprising Justice D V Shylendra Kumar of the High Court and A N Yellappa Reddy, a member of the Lok Adalat, in its sitting in Bangalore on Saturday, directed the departments of health and agriculture to conduct a survey among labourers and suggest remedial measures.

The prime minister's scientific advisory council had advocated introduction of GM crops in India, but under strict regulatory mechanism

Even as the Supreme Court is set to hear the petition to ban testing of genetically modified (GM) crops on October 29, the apex body that is supposed to regulate GM crops in the country, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), has been in limbo since April when it last met. The GEAC was last reconstituted in June 2009 for three years. Since its tenure ended in June, the committee has neither been reconstituted nor its tenure extended. According to senior scientists, this has severely harmed the progress made in field testing and research of new crop varieties.

Discard Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, say NGOs

The Coalition for GM Free India; Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad; and Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture have called upon the Union government to enact a comprehensive National Biosafety Protection Law to address the risks posed by genetic engineering.

Who doesn’t like simple stories? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could toss out villains and live happily ever after? Unfortunately, this happens only in fairy tales.