-Open Letter from the Right to Food Campaign to the Prime Minister of India dated 19th March, 2020 The Right to Food Campaign on 19 March, 2020 has issued an open letter to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. In its letter to the PM, civil society activists have asked the government for ensuring food security and other rights-based entitlements for the poor, vulnerable and the informal sector workers in the wake...

-Down to Earth Groundwater level in Katihar, Begusarai at 25 & 24 ft respectively Groundwater levels reportedly have dipped in 11 of Bihar's 38 districts despite a good monsoon in 2019. The state is predominantly dependent on agriculture. In Katihar the level dipped to 25 feet, according to a telemetry report released by the Bihar’s minor water resources department in February, 2020. Several rivers, including the Ganga, Mahananda, Kosi and Righa, pass through...

-Down to Earth As the geography of arsenic contamination spreads, there is an urgent need for governments to reorient mitigation measures. That’s because the focus till now has only been on drinking water, but new research says arsenic has contaminated our food chain Arseic contamination in groundwater is one of the most crippling issues in the drinking water scenario of India. According to the latest report of the Central Ground Water Board...

-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 27 January, 2020 As the Indian economy continues to languish, the government ignores the advice given by several noted economists, including that of the most recent Nobel winner Abhijit Banerjee, to improve the functioning of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The economy is facing blow after blow. India has the highest rates of unemployment in the past 45 years and food inflation...

-Livemint.com * A field report from the agriculturally prosperous heartland reveals a lacklustre festival of lights * Delay in farm loan waivers has worsened farmers’ credit score. So, financiers are unwilling to advance new loans to them for buying farm equipment SRI GangaNAGAR: "How are you going to celebrate Diwali?" My question gets Roopa Ram, an elderly farmer, so amused that he thinks it’s important to do some explaining to a reporter from...