-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...

-PTI/ The New Indian Express Commissioner agent Rudresh Patil, who procured the onions, said he bought the onions at such a low rate mainly because of the poor quality of the produce. MUMBAI: A farmer from Solapur in Maharashtra managed to earn a MEAgre Rs 13 after selling 1,123 kilograms of onions, despite winter tending to spike prices of the kitchen staple, leading to a state farm leader declaring such a situation...

-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 Telegraph The Opposition members said the govt’s drum-beating over vaccination was premature as only 38% of the adult population had been fully inoculated so far The Opposition on Thursday tore into the Narendra Modi government during a Lok Sabha debate for the mishandling of the second Covid wave and asked what MEAsures were being taken to tackle a possible third surge that could be fuelled by the omicron variant. “When will all...

-Scroll.in We must remember that there is no one such thing as ‘Indian agriculture’ whenever we discuss reforms. Multiple models need to be discussed. On Monday, Parliament cleared a bill to repeal the three farm laws that had gripped Indian politics for much of the past year. Passed in September 2020, the laws were MEAnt to allow much greater play of corporate capital in Indian agriculture. However, the laws also sparked fears...