The Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb) has come out with guidelines on environmentally sound management of e-waste. The guiding principles come at a time when there is a pressing need for intervention as the e-waste inventory in India is expected to shoot up in the coming years.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today constituted a task force consisting of officers from Punjab State Pollution Control Board, Punjab State Council for Science and Technology and Water Supply and Sewerage Board to prepare a blue print for making Sirhind canal free from pollution to achieve the objective of "safe drinking water for all'.

The Punjab government has asked the Centre to include the state in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-Rice to ensure higher contribution to the Central pool of foodgrains.

The Punjab government has asked the Centre to include the entire state in the National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-Rice to ensure better contribution to the Central Pool of food-grains on one hand and the long-term National Food Security due to improved ecological sustainability of agriculture production pattern in the state, on the other.

The Supreme Court today did not allow a plea of Haryana to "lift' water from the Bhakra main line (BML)canal and pump it into the Hansi-Butana. The stay on puncturing the BML to connect the Hansi-Butana canal will continue and the matter will be now heard on July 18. Notably Haryana had submitted a proposal in the apex court to lift 500 cusecs of water through pumping and send it down the Hansi-Butana canal. This is a significant move as by-elections are due in Haryana on May 22.

Punjab may be flopping on fronts like health, information technology but its flavoured Verka lassi, desi ghee,ice-cream, sweetened milk, panjiri, paneer, curd, and kheer are doing very well in the national and international market. Milkfed, state's leading cooperative, known for Verka brand in and outside the country has achieved 64 per cent growth in the sale of lassi, 37 per cent in sweetened flavoured milk, 31 per cent in ghee, 21 per cent in ice cream, 70 per cent in kheer and 39 per cent in paneer last year. Desi ghee and lassi have been traditionally strong area of Punjab.

The PSEB is planning to extend cash rewards to the panchayats of those villages that have achieved full conversion to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). At the same time, the board is likely to give a little relaxation in time to over 10 lakh farmers, who have been told to switch over to CFLs by April 15. The board was likely to extend the deadline by June 30. Though the reward amount is yet to be decided, the board is contemplating giving Rs 1 lakh each to the panchayats achieving full conversion to CFLs, sources said.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for chalking out a multi-pronged time-bound strategy to achieve the objective of "safe drinking water for all' through proper monitoring of rural water supply schemes by the application of reverse osmosis (RO), silver ionisation and ultra-violet techniques depending on the quality of water.

Paramjit Singh from Chunni Khurd in District Fatehgarh Sahib procures about 300 litres of milk every day from 30 farmers of his village. He shows off an electronic equipment to measure milk, given to him by Reliance, which has opened 400 milk collection centres in as many villages of Punjab as part of its milk procurement and retail marketing programme. For Punjab dairy farmers like Paramjit, there is a range of choices opening up so far as buyers are concerned.

Wheat procurement in Punjab and Haryana so far has crossed 100 lakh metric tons and 51 lakh metric tons, respectively. The procurement in Punjab so far has been the highest in the last six years, while that in Haryana has broken the last three years' record, according to Food Corporation of India data. Out of the total procurement in Punjab, government agencies and FCI have lifted 93.95 lakh MTs, an official said here on Friday. In Haryana, government agencies and FCI have procured 50.40 lakh MT.