Alternative Global Forum for Life, Environmental and Social Justice gets under way in CancunVery different from the Arctic temperatures at Moon Palace, where the United Nations climate change conference is under way, a large open-air gymnasium and basketball court is the venue for the alternative Global Forum for Life, Environmental and Social Justice, which began here on Saturday.Protests plannedLed by Via Campesina, or the International Peasant Movement, farmers have been...

Norway says it is examining reports that Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus allegedly diverted millions of dollars of aid money from a bank. International Development Minister Erik Solheim said that it was "totally unacceptable that aid is used for other purposes than intended". A documentary maker has alleged that cash was diverted from Professor Yunus' Grameen Bank to other parts of Grameen. In a statement, the bank said that the allegations were false. It...

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a nation-wide mobilization drawing fresh attention to the “continuing agricultural crisis in India”, and calling for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture, will reach Chandigarh on December 2, 2010.   The bus-Yatra started at the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram on October 2, and is passing through 20 states before reaching Rajghat, New Delhi on December 11. KSY is organised by all India network of over 400 organisations named...

I have not received any official communication: Kerala Minister The proposed field trial comes at a time when natural rubber production has virtually stagnated In the face of opposition from the Kerala government to all genetically modified (GM) crops, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is learnt to have approved a proposal from the Rubber Board for conducting field trials of GM rubber. The GEAC has been constituted by the Union Ministry...

A Farmers’ Round Table held in Dharwad has demanded that the state agricultural universities in Dharwad and Bangalore must present their research initiatives of the year in front of a farmers’ jury mainly of the small and marginalised and commit to respect its verdict. The Round Table also demanded that at every Krishi Mela held across the state, there should be a mini farmers’ jury to openly and transparently discuss the...