-The Times of India THRISSUR: The state government has raised objection to the move of a man in Palakkad to get intellectual property (IP) rights over the Navara variety of rice. Agriculture minister V S Sunilkumar said as per the information received by the government, this person had applied for IP rights under the farmers’ right clause of the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right Act, 2001 (PPV&FR Act). “He is known...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Undo the wrong -Faizan Mustafa
-The Indian Express An ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court order on SC/ST Atrocities Act is much needed The controversial judgment on the SC/ST Atrocities Act has yet again brought to the foreground the faultlines of our democracy. A cornered government, anticipating political repercussions, has moved the apex court for a review of the judgment. In its written submissions, it has stated that the judgment has created disharmony in society and violated...
More »Anti-forest, anti-forest dweller -Chitrangada Choudhury
-The Hindu The Compensatory Afforestation Fund is a deeply flawed and unjust mechanism Last month, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Mahesh Sharma informed Parliament that his Ministry has collected over ?50,000 crore in a Central compensatory afforestation fund (CAF). This money is to be used though the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016 or CAF, a purported mechanism to offset forest loss. Before issuing forest clearances to a...
More »A perfect storm in the cotton field -Priyanka Pulla
-The Hindu Why India is the only Bt cotton-growing country facing the problem of pink bollworm infestation Earlier this month, the government cut royalties that local seed companies pay to Monsanto, for the second time in two years. This follows previous attempts to defang Monsanto. In February, for instance, the anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India, decided to probe into anti-competitive practices by Monsanto. At the centre of all this is...
More »Centre seeks to change forest policy to promote industrial plantations in natural forests -Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava
-Scroll.in The existing policy bans commercial activity in natural forests to protect forest dwellers. The new draft policy is up for public comments till April 14. The Union government has drafted a new National Forest Policy. If approved, the policy will allow the corporate sector to grow, harvest and sell trees on government-owned forest lands. So far, this is explicitly banned under the existing National Forest Policy, which was laid down...
More »