-Livemint.com Farm activists, environmentalists spar with pesticide companies over cause of more than 40 deaths Mumbai: The deaths of over 40 farmers and farm workers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region since July has put the spotlight on the abuse of pesticides and lack of protection for those spraying them, even as a committee investigating the case prepares to submit its findings this week. A seven-member special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Maharashtra government...
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Farmers Shouldn't Have to Die Before the Government Addresses Rampant Pesticide Misuse -Joe Hill
-TheWire.in A recent study in Jharkhand showed that farmers are unaware of how to correctly use different chemicals and do not use any protective gear during the process. The deaths and hospitalisation of farmers in Maharashtra raises to the forefront the question of state government culpability for its negligence in regulating the pesticide sector. The National Human Rights Commission has observed that most farmers in the country are not adequately literate and...
More »How will India address illegal sand mining without any data? -Ishan Kukreti
-Down to Earth New laws to regulate sand mining have not had much impact Illegal sand mining is a perennial problem in India. But it assumes gargantuan proportions right before the onset of monsoon because swollen rivers make extraction extremely difficult during the rainy season. To make most of the lean period, mine owners and hoarders try to dig out as much sand as possible, through legal and illegal means, in...
More »It's lonely on the ground -Christophe Jaffrelot & Basim U Nissa
-The Indian Express RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable In April, the government of India proposed amendments to the RTI Act, one of the most empowering pieces of legislation inherited from the UPA era. The most controversial amendment pertained to Rule 12. It would allow the withdrawal of an application in case of the applicant’s death, making the job of...
More »Exception in marital rape law: Govt defends no action for forced sex with 'wife aged 15-17'
-Hindustan Times The government defended an IPC provision that does not penalise a man for forcibly having sex with his wife aged between 15 and 17, saying the exception in rape law was meant to protect the institution of marriage. New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday defended in the Supreme Court a provision in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that does not penalise a man for forcibly having sex with his wife...
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