The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Irrigation is a luxury that only a few can afford in Mandla, a water-rich district in Madhya Pradesh. The district receives an annual rainfall of 1,300 mm, which can easily sustain three crops a year. But Mandla residents can barely manage one. The district is surrounded by the mighty Narmada …
While the Union government is bothered about the high cost of storing surplus foodgrain, groundnut farmers in Anantapur commit suicide. Clearly, measures of poverty need changing. Policymakers must now take into account the time spent by women to collect firewood or water. This distance needs to be shortened as this …
The poor in Nepal appear to possess the Midas touch. Wherever the government has handed over control of degraded forestland to them under the leasehold forestry programme, the Himalayan country's ecology has staged a magical turnaround. In the process, the below poverty line (bpl) households have unfolded economic miracles also. …
Theirs is no romantic tale of the desert. Rather the plight of camel herders of Rajasthan today is that of an endless struggle for survival. Time was when Virma Ram proudly watched his herd of camels stretch in an endless line along the dusty horizon. Today, his gaze has turned …
contrary to the statistics published by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (fao), which indicate that the global fish catches are stable, fisheries scientists at the University of British Columbia (ubc), Vancouver, Canada, have documented evidence that catches have been declining for over a decade. This new evidence means …
they might well be the modern-day buccaneers. To further their research, agricultural and pharmaceutical companies often tap local communities for traditional knowledge relating to the use of biological resour ces. The conglomerates lose no time in appropriating this painstakingly assimilated information. And make a fast buck by developing products based …
Amid starvation deaths, overflowing granaries and a persistent Supreme Court chasing the government to explain these paradoxes, the recent Union cabinet clearance to the Rs 10,000-crore food for work programme should on face value be good news. But given the fact that the government wants to use the scheme to …
tens of millions of children could face starvation in 20 years time if the governments across the world do not focus on irrigation, education and agricultural research for poor countries, according to a new analysis. The analysis was performed by the world's most complex computer model of the global food …
How does vitamin A rice help solve poverty and malnutrition in developing countries? People whose staple diet is rice usually suffer from vitamin deficiencies. In Bangladesh, for instance, 75 per cent of the calories come from rice. Similarly, in countries like Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, rice accounts for 70 per …
The Swiss take pride in their lush landscapes, and Bolly wood buffs know why. The breathtaking alpine pastures of this small mountain country have replaced strife-torn Sri nagar and polluted and overpopulated Ooty as a backdrop for frolicking fantasies as our buxom actresses and burly actors join Heidi in yodeling …
A welcome stepM S Swaminathan i am happy that at last the Lok Sabha has passed the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill. This is a major step in incorporating the ethics and equity provisions of the convention on biological diversity in a sui generis system of varietal …
The Supreme Court has directed six drought-prone states to reopen closed public distribution shops. The court's directive was given in response to a lawsuit filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), which cited incidents of starvation deaths despite the storehouses of Food Corporation of India (FCI) overflowing with …
climate change could could hit food production in the some of the world’s poorest countries and widen the gulf between the industrialised countries and the rest. India could be one of the worst hit. These findings were presented by Mahendra Shah, researcher on land use at the Austria
A UN commission has agreed on setting up, for the first time, global principles for assessing the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a division of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has agreed that the safety of food derived …
Order of the Supreme Court of India in the People's Union for Civil Liberties Vs Union of India & Ors dated 23/07/2001 regarding the issue of food security in India. In their Order the SC judges noted that "In our opinion, what is of utmost importance is to see that …
