-The Business Standard NC Saxena, a former member of the National Advisory Council believes that the regulatory regime in the states continues to be oppressive. In an e-mailed interview with Aditi Phadnis, Saxena says that the fundamental problem in India is the low tax-GDP ratio and neither the last government nor the current one seems interested in increasing revenues. Edited excerpts: * The new government appears to be watering down a lot...
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Farmers' collective in Bengal village grow indigenous paddy on dry land and make a seed bank -Jayashree Nandi
-The Times of India PRATAPPUR: Paddy grows in a dry patch on this farm. No fertilizers are used, the farm is not irrigated either. It is an experiment by seven farming enthusiasts who are trying to revive indigenous varieties and make them commercially viable in their villages. The dry paddy patch is small but the farm of about 4.8 ha grows more than 250 indigenous, organically grown varieties of paddy, pulses...
More »Of Millstones, Milestones & Millionaires -P Sainath and Ananya Mukherjee
-GRIST Media If hard work and enterprise inevitably made you prosperous, every rural woman would be a millionaire. These women have borne the brunt of the radical, often brutal transformation of rural India these past two decades. Our writers examine the hardships they continue to face as well as their remarkable vision to solve some of the greatest problems of our times such as food security, environmental justice and developing a...
More »Tea turns bitter for Wayanad farmers -EM Manoj
-The Hindu Kalpetta (Kerala): A sharp decline in the price of green tea leaves, shortage of workers, and dearth of tea processing factories in the public sector have hit small-scale tea growers in Wayanad district. The spot price of green leaves on Saturday was Rs.8 a kg against Rs.13 a kg during the corresponding period last year. ‘‘We are forced to sell our produce at a throw away price to agents from Tamil...
More »The ‘Untouchable’ Bill -Nidheesh J Villatt
-Tehelka The new and improved Bill to prevent atrocities against Dalits runs the risk of being put in the cold storage A crime against Dalits happens every 18 minutes - three women raped every day, 13 murdered every week, 27 atrocities every day, six kidnapped every week and so on. This is the data compiled by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, an NGO, which paints a grim picture of Indian...
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