CHHATTISGARH “It was a crazy time and we took great risks,” said Alok Shukla. “Sometimes I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not succeeded. We would have been facing audit questions the rest of our lives.” Shukla was referring to his challenging time as food secretary …
Tango with nature India has been using lakes, ponds and baolis (step wells) since ancient times ('What monsoon means', July 16-31, 2010). Delhi was once replete with water bodies. In the past 50 years, government agencies started disbanding natural ponds, lakes and baolis, declaring their water untested, and therefore, unfit …
The traditional management of Mudiyanur tank provides an interesting example of a system of management that ensured fair distribution of water to the land of all households, promoted respect for different roles in society, and sought to resolve conflict between different parties in as harmonious a manner as possible. The …
For years, the Amravati Thermal Power Project in Maharashtra has been facing public opposition. Farmers in the Vidarbha region fear the power plant will suck water from the irrigation project in Upper Wardha. On June 17, an unexpected breakthrough appeared. The state's water resources minister Ajit Pawar met people's representatives, …
AIMING to catch up with global competition and India's fibre requirement of the future, the Union Ministry of Textiles put up a draft national fibre policy on its website in June. It has invited comments and suggestions. Though India is the second largest producer of man-made fibre in the world, …
IT WAS yet another meeting in a series that began six years ago. On July 28, close to 40 members of Parliament and state leaders met in Room 124 of Krishi Bhavan, the Delhi headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, in what seemed a last-ditch attempt to thrash out the …
Vijay Jawandhia is a farmer in Vidarbha, the region which brought home to us the crisis that is compelling farmers to kill themselves. He is also a leader of farmers. Recently, he spoke of new challenges: "In my village we are hiring vehicles and bringing people from cities to work …
Sushil Kumar Lodhi, 32, walks about Dashehari village with newspaper clippings, which carried news of his grandfather’s death. His grandfather suffered a heart attack on his way back from Lucknow. He went there to convince officials not to build a solid waste management facility in their village because it would …
Afrequent traveller to rural parts of northern India will find something odd about the roadside sights on a ride from Jaipur to Jobner, especially during late March. On the fields flanking the nearly 50-km stretch, bundles of freshly cut wheat signal the harvest season. But instead of the golden ears …
MAHABUBNAGAR A Shekhar, 25, committed suicide a year ago. A resident of Burgupalle village in Andhra Pradesh’s Mahabub - nagar district, he had bought half a hectare (ha) for growing paddy. He borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh to sink three borewells but did not find groundwater. Shekhar could not repay the …
The Water, Land and Trees Act (WALTA) was enacted in 2002. Meant to regulate groundwater use, the Act requires farmers to register their borewells with the mandal revenue office after getting clearance from the district groundwater office. Farmers like Muniratnam Naidu in Chittoor district laugh at the idea of taking …
The million-odd users of groundwater in Andhra Pradesh need a new form of regulation, everybody agrees. The system based on permits—under WALTA—only adds to the transaction cost of farmers. The fact is there is a desperation to dig and then dig deeper. There is no estimation how much the farmers—private …
THE government has raised the minimum support prices for pulses by up to Rs 700. It is a 15-30 per cent increase over the previous year. The government also promised an incentive of Rs 5 per kg if farmers sell black gram, green gram and pigeon pea to procurement agencies …
While management of natural resources is crucial, micro finance is a catalyst for achieving sustainable agriculture. The experience of HIH shows how micro finance has played a supportive role in the ecological journey of a large number of farmers in Tamil Nadu.
The incidence of cutaneous melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, tripled over the last 30 years in the United States. The reasons for this increase are not clear, although sun sensitivity and ultraviolet radiation are known risk factors. Farmers have been found to have an excess risk of …
Victims of the 2008 Kosi flood in Bihar are awaiting compensation. They cannot farm because their land is full of fine silt. Officials in the flood-affected districts say villagers complain because they don’t understand the formalities—they need to furnish a first information report (fir) and death certificate to claim compensation. …
On the outskirts of Kathmandu, Siddhipur village has rediscovered the value of urine. More than 100 toilets in the village divert urine to farms, where it is used as fertilizer. It is not a new practice, though. The village was recycling urine before modern fertilizers were introduced. “In the past, …
a ban on growing trees, installing borewells and digging ponds on farms is giving sleepless nights to residents of 204 villages of Punjab. The ban is in view of a 610 km gas pipeline that would pass through the farms in three districts—Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar. Digging work has …
The local farmers possess an immense knowledge of their environment. An effort was made to carryout a research on the conservation and testing of nitrogen effect over the location specific indigenous paddy varieties in purposively selected tribals Original Source
