The Maharashtra government must create a favourable legal environment that protects the rights of and ensures the safety of seasonal migrant workers in the sugar industry

Global shortage of 400 million kg of tobacco spurs export demand for the crop; premium leaves fetch farmers in Prakasam and Nellore districts a record ₹210 a kg during e-auctions

Hemant Sikka says the farm machinery industry is expected to grow from ₹9,200 crores in financial year 2022 to ₹15,000 crores in financial year 2026.

Traders claimed the central government's decision to impose 40% duty on the export of onions till December 31, 2023 will adversely affect the onion growers and its export

The multi-state cooperative has so far earned Rs. 22 crore profit from April during the current financial year

The association also urged APEDA to exempt imported raw cashew nuts from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) clearance in customs.

On August 19, the Union government imposed a 40% duty on the export of onions until December 31,

India’s banana export destinations extend beyond the Middle East, with potential opportunities in major global players like the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany, China, the Netherlands, the UK, and France.

The Cooperation Minister said that before the sowing operation, tur farmers can register on the portal to sell their produce to NAFED and NCCF

Traders are allowed to export this quantity till March 31

Karnataka Agriculture Price Commission headed by Prakash Kammaradi submitted a report on the legally backed MSP to the government in 2018

Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also been allocated the Rural Development Ministry in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet

Government allocates ₹1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors in the Union Budget 2024-25; Finance Minister announces that the Centre will work with States to promote digital public infrastructure for agriculture

What are the concerns on yields? What have been the findings on the ground? How did two studies on the yield potential of natural farming differ? What happened when Sri Lanka decided to ban chemical fertilizers, substituting it with natural ones?

How H&M, Zara and Marks & Spencer are buying viscose from highly polluting factories in Asia. By Natasha Hurley.

Britain’s largest festival about refugees and sanctuary is more relevant than ever, writes Lydia Noon.

KidZania is an unashamed shrine to the sterile, dystopian human-made landscapes, comedian Steve Parry writes.

In her How to Use AI to Build Accessible Products presentation at Smashing Conf New York, Carie Fisher discussed using AI coding tools to test and suggest fixes for accessibility issues in Web pages. Here's my notes on her talk.

• AI is everywhere. You can use it to write content, code, create images, and more. It impacts how everyone will work.
• But ultimately, AI is just a tool but it might not always be the right one. We need to find the tasks where it has the potential to add value.
• Over 1 billion people on the planet identify as having a disability. Accessible code allows them to access digital experiences and helps companies be complaint with emerging laws requiring accessible Web pages and apps. Businesses also get SEO, brand, and more benefits from accessible code.
• AI tools like Github Copilot can find accessibility issues in seconds consistently, especially compared to the manual checks currently being done by humans. AI can also spot patterns across a codebase and suggest solutions.
• Existing AI coding tools like Github Copilot are already better than Linters for finding accessibility issues.
• AI can suggest and implement code fixes for accessibility issues. It can also be added to CI/CD pipelines to check for accessibility issues at the point of each commit. AI can also serve as an accessibility mentor for developers by providing real-time suggestions.
• More complex accessibility issues especially those that need user context may go unfound when just using AI. Sometimes AI output can be incomplete or hallucinate solutions that are not correct. As a result, we can't over rely on just AI to solve all accessibility problems. We still need human review today.
• To improve AI accessibility, provide expanded prompts that reference or include specifications. Code reviews can double check accessibility suggestions from AI-based systems. Regularly test and refine your AI-based solutions to improve outcomes.
• Combing AI and human processes and values can help build a culture of accessibility.

In his Is Atomic Design Dead? presentation at Smashing Conf New York, Brad Frost discussed the history of design systems and today's situation especially in light of very capable AI models than can generate code and designs. Here's my notes on his talk.

• Websites started as HTML and CSS. People began to design websites in Photoshop and as the number of Web sites and apps increased, the need for managing a brand and style across multiple platforms became clear. To manage this people turned to frameworks and component libraries which resulted in more frameworks and tools that eventually got integrated into design tools like Figma. It's been an ongoing expansion...
• There's been lots of change over the years but at the highest level, we have design systems and products that use them to enforce brand, consistency, accessibility, and more.
• Compliance to design systems pushes from one side and product needs push from the other. There needs to be a balance but currently the gap between the two is growing. A good balance is achieved through a virtuous cycle between product and systems.
• The atomic design system tried to intentionally define use of atoms, molecules, organisms, templates, and pages to bridge the gap between the end state of a product and a design system.
• As an industry, we went too far in resourcing design systems and making them a standalone thing within a company. They've been isolated.
• Design system makers can't be insular. They need to reach out to product teams and work with them. They need to be helping product teams achieve their goals.
• What if there were one global design system with common reusable components? Isn't that what HTML is for? Yes, but it's insufficient because we're still rebuilding date pickers everywhere.
• Open UI tracks popular design systems and what's in them. It's a start to seeing what global component needs for the Web could look like.
• Many pattern libraries ship with an aesthetic and people need to tweak it. A global design system should be very vanilla so you can style it as much as you want.
• The Web still has an amazing scale of communication and collaboration. We need to rekindle the ideas of the early Web. We need to share and build together to get to a common freely usable design system.
• AI models can help facilitate design system work. Today they do an OK job but in the future, fine-tuned models may create custom components on the fly. They can also translate between one design system and another or translate across programming languages.
• This methodology could help companies translate existing and legacy code to new modern design systems. Likewise sketches or mockups could be quickly translated directly to design system components thereby speeding up processes.
• Combining design system specifications with large language models allows you to steer AI generations more directly toward the right kind of code and components.
• When product experiences are more dynamic (can be built on the fly), can we adapt them to individual preferences and needs? Like custom styles or interactions.
• AI is now part of our design system toolkit and design systems are part of our AI toolkit.
• But the rapid onset of AI also raises higher level questions about what designers and developers should be doing in the future? We're more than rectangle creators. We think and feel which differentiates us from just production level tasks. Use your brains, your intuition, and whole self to solve real problems.

Elizabeth Tasker details the good, the bad and the confusing of working as a physicist in Japan

Elizabeth Tasker details the good, the bad and the confusing of working as a physicist in Japan

Her cocktails are known worldwide for their unusual pairings and flavour profiles

Delhi-Jaipur-Pushkar, and a fleet of BMWs, what’s not to like?

Home to some of the freshest organic produce, regional cuisine is the star of the show in Melbourne

Visiting chef Agostino D’ Angelo takes his audience through the flavours of true Sicilian food

Edible flowers and exotic fruits are no longer limited to just a garnish; they now occupy the high table. We delve into this trend as part of Luxe’s fourth anniversary — where we celebrate all things floral and fruity, silk and linen

Lanham, MD : Rowman and Littlefield, 2024.

Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2023]

Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2023]

Lynnfield, Massachusetts CAST [2024]

New York, NY : Routledge , 2024.

Toronto : Canadian Scholars, 2024.

Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2024]

New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 2024.

Kannada actor Kishore hopes the response to ‘Kantara’ will encourage Kannada filmmakers to explore new content in different ways

Kantara’s OTT release on Amazon Prime Video leaves viewers disappointed after makers replace ‘Varaha Roopam’ song following court order in case filed by Kerala band Thaikkudam Bridge

‘Mahadev Ka Gorakhpur’, starring Ravi Kishan in the lead, is based around the Aghori sadhus and will be dubbed in multiple languages

The two biggest box office successes of 2022 - “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” - were shut out.

Director Srikanth Odela’s Telugu film ‘Dasara’, starring Nani and Keerthy Suresh, is set in the vicinity of coal mines in rural Telangana

Upendra’s gangster drama is similar to ‘KGF’ in more than just the looks, flavour, and genre; it’s a rip-off loaded with empty shells of everything that made Prashanth Neel’s films enjoyable

Director Gunasekhar and producer Neelima Guna on how they tried to make ‘Shaakuntalam’ appeal to a contemporary audience

Sai Dharam Tej and Samyuktha Menon’s Telugu supernatural thriller ‘Virupaksha’ delivers the thrills, aided by deft storytelling and an able technical team

Uttar Pradesh becomes the second State after Madhya Pradesh to make the controversial film tax-free

Director Sailesh Kolanu, now working on Venkatesh-starrer ‘Saindhav’ discusses his approach to cinema and how he hopes to have his signature as the ‘HIT’ universe grows bigger

Sashi Kiran Tikka, director of ‘Goodachari’ and ‘Major’, looks back at the indie approach to filmmaking, collaborative work atmosphere and his days at the New York Film Academy

Music composer Hesham Abdul Wahab, debuting in Telugu cinema with director Shiva Nirvana’s ‘Kushi’ starring Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, talks about his fluid work space. He is also working on Nani’s and Sharwanand’s films

Actor Nandamuri Balakrishna’s 108th film directed by Anil Ravipudi is titled ‘Bhagavanth Kesari’, also stars Kajal Aggarwal, Sree Leela and Arjun Rampal

Venkatesh Maha, director of ‘Care of Kancharapalem’ and ‘Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya’, recalls his formative years and why he stands firm to make the films he believes in