-Down to Earth The pesticides in question continue to be used in India, but are already banned, restricted or withdrawn in other countries Several experts underscored the ill effects of using chemicals excessively in agriculture and stressed on ecologically sound alternatives while backing a recent government draft order to prohibit a bunch of pesticides. Civil society members, citing risks, threats and damage from 27 pesticides, came out in support of a May 14,...
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How India Can Leverage Surplus Food Grain to Expand PDS Without Sacrificing Fiscal Prudence -Siraj Hussain and Jugal Mohapatra
-TheWire.in After Modi's decision to extend additional allocation of food grains under PMGKY until November, there are now three scenarios that can play out. On June 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the country, announced that the additional allocation of food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKY) will be made available till November. This means that from April to November 2020, 71.17 crore people – classified...
More »The five truths about the migrant workers’ crisis -Alpa Shah and Jens Lerche
-Hindustan Times They are underpaid and overworked, from marginalised communities, sustained by an invisible economy of care If anything positive has come out of the Covid-19 crisis, it is that the world’s most stringent lockdown revealed the plight of the vulnerable Indian migrant labour force. With no work and no way to feed themselves, removed from family support, millions had no choice but to defy the lockdown and return to their villages....
More »Achieving Zero Hunger by 2030 in doubt, UN report warns
-Down to Earth Between 83 million and 132 million people could go hungry in 2020 due to COVID-19, according to the report Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of ‘Zero Hunger’ that it had mandated by 2030, will be very difficult, a United Nations report released on July 13, 2020, has warned. Six hundred and ninety million people went hungry in 2019 — up by 10 million from 2018, and by nearly 60 million...
More »Time to act on MGNREGA -Ankita Aggarwal and Anmol Somanchi
-The Indian Express Covid-related crisis offers NDA government opportunity to increase work days, entitlements under the employment guarantee scheme. In a recent article (‘Credit where it isn’t due’, IE, June 10), Union Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar described the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as a “failing scheme” before 2014. MGNREGA under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was by no means perfect, but when the National...
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