Now that “neemania” has gripped scientists in the West and neem (Azadirachta indica) is being hailed as the wonder tree that can solve global problems from locust swarms to AIDS, Indian scientists are jumping onto the bandwagon. After Western scientists proved that neem-based pesticides are safer than synthetic ones such …
In August, western Odisha was shut down 13 times to protest the state government’s decision to build three barrages on the Mahanadi river. They are meant to dam surplus water downstream of the Hirakud reservoir to generate 320 MW power, and, as recently announced, to irrigate farms. Not a single …
The residents of Bamni were fed up with the constant feud between two farmers in their village. Their quarrels, which often came to fisticuffs, went on day and night, at home and in the farms, for years. Occasionally their neighbours had to rush them to a doctor after they had …
THE three-year-old peaceful protest of Mavla taluka residents against the laying of a water pipeline turned violent on August 9 when three farmers were killed in police firing. Residents of 75 villages of the taluka in Pune are angry over the Maharashtra government’s decision to lay the pipeline from the …
We were standing at the edge of what looked like a swamp—grass and pools and streams. On one side was heavily barricaded land with high walls, barbed wires and armed security. A board read: East Coast Energy, Kakarapalli. This was where a bloody battle had taken place a few months …
“My major work on the farm is just picking the harvest,” says Raghava with a straight face. It takes some time for the fact to sink in that this young farmer is not joking. One begins to believe him only after visiting his coconut plantation in village Mallanayakanahalli in Karnataka’s …
ABOUT 30,000 farmers in Maharashtra are feeling cheated. The soybean seeds they had purchased from the state seed corporation, Mahabeej, failed to germinate this season. Over 40,000 hectares (ha) of farms in seven districts have been affected. Mahabeej has 45 per cent share in the soy seed business in the …
When representatives of the world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, began to make discreet visits to the second floor offices of the inconspicuous Van Bandhu Kalyaan Yojana in the Gandhinagar headquarters of the Gujarat government in 2007, it set in motion a process that would transform Indian agriculture in unexpected and …
Are hybrids always a precursor to a genetically modified (GM) version of the crop? In the case of maize, both the champions of GM and the opposition believe GM maize is round the corner. Currently, four multinationals are conducting field trials of GM maize in India. Monsanto India Ltd is …
In 2008, I shifted from Pune to the green environs of Dehradun to follow my heart. Writing, photography and nature conservation projects followed, making life really interesting. One of the conservation projects I took up involved studying the conflict between monkeys and farmers in Uttarakhand. In many areas of the …
This refers to the editorial “When business rules our kitchens” (June 16-30, 2011). Do we want to sensationalise the issue of poor food safety regulations and use big companies as a whipping boy or work on the solutions? How are we going to deal with the fundamental issue of feeding …
It’s been more than seven months. Farmer representatives from 12 villages in Nawalgarh are on a sit-in protest outside the sub-divisional magistrate’s office. Their demand: do not give our fertile land to industry. Three cement giants are eyeing this limestone-rich area in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. Limestone is the prime …
The World Intellectual Property Organization has announced clearly that it intends to play a role—and considering the clout WIPO enjoys it implies a significant part—in promoting intellectual property (IP) in agriculture to enhance productivity. The UN body stepped into this touchy arena with a seminar at its Geneva headquarters that …
NANDAN Nilekani has just submitted his report on how the Centre should give direct fertiliser subsidy to farmers, but Odisha has already rolled out a scheme to reimburse maize farmers their cost of fertiliser. This will benefit about 45,000 farmers picked for a special maize scheme. Under the scheme, the …
THE Maharashtra government has relaxed the criteria for giving aid to families of farmers who have committed suicide. The move comes in the wake of recent media reports that 4,000 farmers’ families in Vidarbha were denied relief on the ground that land was not registered in the name of the …
Achanta, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, hit the headlines in 1967 with a record rice yield in the kharif or monsoon crop season. It was the time of the Green Revolution. N Subba Rao, a farmer from the village, harvested three tonnes of paddy from just one kilogramme of …
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food on Monday cleared the crucial Food Security Bill, which seeks to entitle 75 per cent of the BPL (below poverty line) population and 50 per cent of the urban population to heavily subsidised food grains. It also lifted the ban on export …
Ten months after Rajasthan signed its extraordinary memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with seven biotech seed companies, the state government finds itself caught in a cleft stick. Owing to a series of protests by farmers’ organisations, the government has thought it prudent not to execute the MoUs. At the same time, …
ALARMED by the changing climatic patterns, the Centre is likely to include either cold wave or frost in the disaster relief fund. At present, compensation under the National Disaster Response Fund and State Disaster Response Fund can be given to victims of natural calamities like cyclone, drought, earthquake, tsunami and …
