THE cat is out of the bag. Developed countries take back a large chunk of their development assistance by forcing recipient countries to buy goods and services from them. This was stated in a report released ahead of a meeting of rich countries to be held in November at Busan …
On his focus areas as chairperson of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) I would like to focus on building capacity in developing and least developed countries. Most of them do not understand the Codex document, what it contains and what is there between the lines. So, they do not know how …
IN SEPTEMBER last year, China halted shipments of rare earth metals, crucial for the manufacture of everything from guided missiles and hybrid cars to flat-screen televisions and BlackBerry phones, to Japan over a territorial dispute. It also cut down its export quota for rare earth by 72 per cent for …
AFTER imposing a ban on endosulfan, the Supreme Court is now examining the possibility of allowing export of the pesticide. On August 5, the court-appointed joint committee was given a three-week deadline to submit an interim report on the possibility of exporting and disposing of the endosulfan stocks with the …
George and Aruldas, fishermen from near Kanyakumari, were hauling up a catch on a beach in southern Tamil Nadu. It was a warm evening and they were the only fishers on these secluded sands. The catch was special and I was privileged, as an outsider, to be invited to watch …
IT IS a case of deadly food poisoning. Caused by a new strain of Escherichia coli bacterium, the outbreak has sickened over 2,000 people in the EU in the past month. At least 25 succumbed to the disease in Germany, the epicentre of the outbreak; more than 600 were hospitalised …
“This magazine is not a product of a desire to capture share of the information market. It is a product of a need and desire to fill a critical information gap.” Anil Agarwal, founding editor of Down To Earth, wrote this in his introduction to the launch of the fortnightly …
When you see the traditional maize of Mexico for the first time you are stunned. It is a cornucopia of unimagined colours and lustre: blue black, purple, translucent beige, pearly white, some deep burgundy, sun-kissed yellow or crushed mulberry, and countless other combinations. Many of the variegated corn varieties appear …
BIHAR and Kerala have come out strongly against the Seeds Bill 2010 to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha, saying states should get more powers to regulate seed trade. They say the bill in its present form would lead to unrestricted commercialisation of seeds now in public domain. After Andhra …
Most readers might find it difficult to credit what follows. This is a story of how bilateral and multilateral investment treaties are being used to satisfy corporate greed, how large corporations, even those in the unsavoury business of selling cigarettes, can sue countries for passing public health laws intended to …
The Indian economy this year (2010-11) has been characterized by robust economic growth and steady fiscal consolidation. Inflation continues to be high even though it has come down markedly from where it was at the start of the fiscal year. There are structural challenges that face, concerning economic governance, efficiency …
After months of prevarication, the European Union has stated publicly that the free trade agreement (FTA) it signs with India will include provisions for data exclusivity because “it is extremely important for research and innovation’’. That’s what European Union ambassador Daniele Smadja told journalists in Delhi on January 21. Smadja’s …
Rashmi Khatri is an astrologer. She recently renovated her office in Delhi, dividing it into two compartments— one for showcasing gemstones and other for attending clients. For the showroom space, she wanted adequate lighting without increasing the electricity bill. She chose imported light emitting diodes, or LEDs. LEDs have been …
AFTER scuttling talks on transfer of technology in the recently concluded climate change conference in Cancun, the US now wants China to stop its clean energy programme. The US, on December 22, filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) that China is unfairly helping its domestic wind power …
The shiny, greenish-grey beans look no worse off for having passed through the Asian palm civet’s digestive system. “I can’t tell the difference between this coffee and my normal parchment coffee, but connoisseurs say it has a subtle nuttiness,” said septuagenarian coffee planter T S Ganesh, the only producer of …
IT’S yellow, sweet, large, uniformly sized and firmly textured. For almost everyone the Cavendish variety is the banana. But it was not so until the 1950s when a fungus knocked out its predecessor, Gros Michel, the sweetest variety known so far. The Cavendish, once a littleknown Vietnamese variety, successfully resisted …
It is now final. Two weeks ago, the final text of the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a plurilateral pact ostensibly aimed at stamping out the trade in counterfeit goods, was put out by the cabal of countries that have been negotiating it in secret for the past three years. …
IT HAS been drafted several times in the past six years. The Union agriculture ministry is confident the seeds bill will make it through Parliament this winter session. But opposition parties, and some MPs from the ruling Congress Party, are getting ready to corner the ministry over legislation. The Seeds …
The post WTO policy reforms in the field of agricultural trade induced changes in the institutional and market conditions that led to the entry of the private sector in agribusiness and brought a shift in the relative position of different players in the market. It has created sharp discontinuities in …
Two tribal villages in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra—Mendha Lekha and Marda— savoured victory when they won community rights over their forest resources in August last year. The rights conferred under the Forest Rights Act of 2006 include the right to collect and sell minor forest produce (MFP). These include tendu …
