-Down to Earth Judgement against Pepsico potato variety sets precedent for all seed and food and beverages corporations not to transgress farmers’ seed rights and freedoms in India, experts say The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Authority December 3, 2021 revoked a PVP (plant variety protection) certificate granted to PepsiCo India Holding (PIH) on a potato variety (FL-2027) on multiple grounds.  This means that Pepsico’s Intellectual Property Right (IPR) granted...

-Livemint.com We do need reforms to make farming remunerative again but it will take a truly participatory effort On 19 November, in a sudden announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of three contentious farm laws passed by Parliament last September. And they were repealed on the very FIRst day that the House convened for its winter session. Like the way they were passed last year, the repeal was also done...

-TheNewsMinute.com Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advocacy of Zero Budget Natural Farming comes after the controversial farm laws were repealed. But further critical examination is crucial. In a televised address to the nation on the morning of November 19th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought forgiveness from farmers and the entire nation “with all sincerity of purpose and from the bottom of my heart” for aggressively and undemocratically promoting three controversial farm laws. He...

-Scroll.in Unplanned urbanisation, changing rainfall patterns and delayed preventive measures have created perfect conditions for mosquitoes to thrive. When Dr Shaukat Kalam visited FIRozabad in Uttar Pradesh in August, he saw signs of a deadly dengue outbreak everywhere. “We found mosquito breeding in every second house, in the garbage, on the roadside, in articles where water was accumulating,” said the entomologist, an expert on insects, who currently works with the central government’s...

-The Hindu Shankar Lingala of Rythu Mitra has been spearheading a silent movement to run sustainable farms applying the science of the soil Ongole bulls, native cows, the intermittent fights of country chickens, sunshine yellow butterflies and the peaty smell of fresh dung... that’s Shankar and Padma Lingala’s farm for you. Shankar, despite being a city boy is an integral part of the Rythu Mitra group, where a team of farmers is bringing...