CEOs need to accelerate their action plans to safeguard the production of commodities critical to the global population and economy as heat stress and drought risk rise around the world, according to PwC's report, Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities: Protecting People and Prosperity, published. The report, which analysed nine …
Life in a cold desert is harsh and exacting. You need enormous amounts of energy for everything, but there are very few sources. Getting electricity to light up houses in Leh is no easy task. About two-thirds of the power supply in the summer comes from diesel generator sets (DG) …
It is widely accepted that panchayati raj is shaping up much better in Leh as compared to other districts of J&K.; The first real panchayat elections in the state were held only in May 2001. Even then, modalities of decentralisation of power to elected village representatives were not issued. After …
The most remarkable aspect of the developmental challenges in Leh district is the small margin for error. Resources are highly limited. Ladakh's ecology is fragile. Unbridled tourism will imperil the pastures of Changthang that support the pashmina goats and the Changpa nomads. The good news from Leh is that the …
What has been the impact of the Public Distribution System (PDS) on Ladakhi agriculture? The subsidy culture has definitely killed local agriculture in Ladakh. What international trade distortions are doing to Indian agriculturethe subsidy system is doing to Ladakhi agriculture. It is exactly the same as industrialised countries dumping their …
Padma Wangyal, 29, is quite an exception. His grandfather pioneered the cooperative societies movement in Ladakhi agriculture. In a region where the average landholding is a mere 1.38 hectares, Wangyal's family owns about 20 hectares. Wangyal attended school and college in Delhi. Like most young Ladakhis, he dreamt of joining …
In Ladakh, the rest of India is referred to as down . Because, at no point in Leh district would you be less than about three kilometres above the mean sea level. This vast barren district is more than 45,000 square kilometre (sq km); it is perhaps India's largest and …
sixteen rice millers of Burdwan and its adjoining districts in West Bengal have joined hands to sell carbon credits to developed nations by switching over to a non-polluting mode of power generation. If their plans come to fruition, they may reap financial rewards under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism …
sumit Naik, a migratory worker in Bhubaneswar, has decided to be ‘absent’ from his native village of Ektal for much longer this year than is usual. He is forced to stay away from his home. Reason: his presence would worsen the food scarcity his family faces, despite having 1.5 hectares …
ever since Punjab chief minister (cm) Amarinder Singh's performance was rated highly by a popular weekly magazine in August, the state government has gone into a public relations overdrive. One of the main successes, it has claimed in full-page advertisements placed in national dailies, is the diversification of the state's …
The Sri Lankan government has hit upon a practical idea to help the paddy farmers in the country. It has appealed to people to curtail their consumption of bread and opt for rice instead. The country's demand for wheat flour (all of which is imported) has been steadily rising to …
A struggle by farmers in Chhattisgarh to protect indigenous seed varieties from being appropriated by multinational corporations is snowballing into a major movement in the State. Women working in the fields at Khapridih village in Raipur district, following a paddy crop failure due to lack of rains last year. Chhattisgarh, …
rice has been a staple food of West Bengal from antiquity and thus was grown in abundance all across the region. At one time, 60 varieties of rice were cultivated in Bengal. Pantabhat, which is basically cooked rice soaked overnight in water, was probably a way of preserving rice as
thai jasmine rice could soon suffer a similar fate as that of Indian basmati . The us is developing a new strain of the aromatic rice that is indigenous to Thailand. Under the research project, Chris Deren of the University of Florida, is altering original jasmine rice using gamma rays. …
death stalks the workers of the International Rice Research Institute (irri) in Philippines. Because more than four decades of experiments and intensive studies have let loose a toxic trail. This alarming revelation came recently after an independent medical survey was conducted on former employees of irri. Several instances of fatalities …
the seeds of a novel programme to reduce the rice-wheat predominance in Punjab's cropping pattern have been planted. The state recently launched a multi-crop, multi-year contract farming programme. It seeks to convince Punjab's farmers - who currently follow the rice-wheat cropping pattern - to switch over to alternative crops. The …
It is ironic that while India ranks third in fertiliser use worldwide, it ranks 14 and 16 respectively in the production of rice and wheat. It is even more ironic that India’s fertiliser policy ensures precisely such a result. Fertiliser use in India is dictated by the larger perceived need …
Agricultural growth in India has always laboured under the burden of producing more. The idea was: grow only foodgrains. That meant: not ecologically adapted cereals such as millets, but rice and wheat. The green revolution programme was single-minded: it came up with hyv (high-yielding variety) seeds for rice and wheat …
A third factor has led to the current debility of soils in India: irrigation. That is to say, water over-use. To feed the rice-wheat mentality, net irrigated area rose from 20.8 million ha in 1950 to 53.5 million ha in 1995-1996. Fed on irrigation, the agricultural area grew from a …
