‘We Must Reclaim Land as a Commons with Shared Use Rights for Both Men and Women’
The noted environmentalist offers candid takes on India’s agrarian crisis, sustainable agriculture, and gender equality in farming.
Wooing Corporate Interests? Nagaland Move to ‘Massively Rely’ on Non-Native Palm Oil
A report on a virtual meeting organised by the civil rights organisation Kezekevi Thehou Ba says that the “bid to push oil palm cultivation in the North-East” has rung “alarm bells” in the ecologically fragile and biodiversity rich region.
Community-Based Natural Farming Outshines Other Farming Practices in Andhra Pradesh
A study in Andhra Pradesh compares three prevalent farming methods, analysing their overall benefits such as production, economic impact and social and health implications. It concludes that community-based natural farming offers superior benefits in terms of higher yields, crop diversity and income for farmers.
The NRI and Corporate Houses Behind the Farm Laws
A BJP-friendly NRI businessman’s proposal to Niti Aayog paved the way for the creation of a task force that authored a report pushing for corporatisation of agriculture as a way to double farmers’ income. Subsequently, the Adani Group lobbied to remove curbs on hoarding. Farm laws did just that.
How a 61-Day Farmers’ Dharna has Shaken Uttar Pradesh’s ‘Bulldozer Raj’
United, landless workers and opposition parties force the State government to set up a committee for their demands.
Agriculture | GMO | Online Blog | Science
The Dangers of GM Crops – Two Articles
‘Shocking Corruption and Violation of Ethics in Regulatory Work Concerning GM Crops’; and: ‘Turning Healthy Food into Disease Causing Food—The Case of GM Corn’.
The Fortified Rice Scam
Pt 1: Modi Gov’t Ignores Internal Red Flags on Health Risks to Force Fortified Rice on Poor; Pt 2: Confidential NITI Aayog Report Reveals Centre Bungled Rice Fortification Pilot Projects; Pt 3: Fortified Rice a Bonanza for a Dutch Firm.
The Passing of Bhaskar Save: What the ‘Green Revolution’ did for India
Bhaskar Save died on 24 October 2015 at age 93. Emphasising self-reliance at the farm/village level, Save was regarded as the ‘Gandhi of natural farming’. In 2006 he published an open letter on the disastrous effects of green revolution for India – socially, economically and ecologically. We reproduce this letter here.
The Mission Creep Problem in Panchayat Finances
The 14th FC had recommended transfer of significant quantum of untied funds to local bodies, that would have strengthened fiscal decentralisation. The Union Government accepted this recommendation, but has imposed several conditionalities in the release of these funds, effectively leading to fiscal centralisation.
In Vidarbha: Agrarian Distress, Playing on the Mind
Climate uncertainty and the resulting financial loss have created a mental health crisis in this drought-prone region in Maharashtra.