-Economic and Political Weekly While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these varieties have been brought under legal protection through national legislation. Parameswaran Prajeesh (prajeesh@mssrf.res.in) is a researcher with the...

-Huffington Post Across the globe, 805 million people are struggling with hunger. But that figure could be significantly reduced if female farmers just had the same rights as their male counterparts. Now that more men in rural areas are taking jobs in cities, about half of all farmers are women who produce more than half the world's food, according to World Watch. Yet, despite their increasing roles, women farmers are often deprived...

-The Times of India LUCKNOW: Girija devi was reduced to being an ordinary farm hand in Jalaun after the demise of her husband. As a widow, she was told she had no Ownership Rights to the land her family had held for many years. For years, she continued to till the land and worked on it as an agricultural labourer. Then, a local civil society organization helped her regain control over...

-The Hindu The proposed amendment bill to the Land Act has amendments that are an exercise of state power without reason, with the basis for these changes on assertions of a vague agenda of development. What is equally disturbing is that at least some of the changes that these amendments propose, if passed, would also be patently unconstitutional In his celebrated treatise on constitutional law, H.M. Seervai began a discussion on the...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Amendments proposed by the previous Congress-led union government to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 had the potential of improving upon this progressive legislation. Unfortunately, with its successor pursuing different priorities, the possibility of the amendments being passed remains rather low. Kamal Nayan Choubey (kamalnayanchoubey@gmail.com) is with the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. A bill for an amendment to the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas)...