-The Times of India If you are an organic farmer, now you cannot sell your produce through a retailer or other channels unless it is certified to be organic and carries a label with information on the organic status of the produce. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a notification recently laying down the requirements organic foods need to comply with. But farmer groups believe making certification...

-Scroll.in The proposed law is almost identical to the United Progressive Alliance’s 2008 Pesticide Management Bill. Months after more than 40 people in three states were reported to have died in the second half of 2017 after being exposed to spurious pesticides, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has begun consultations on a new Pesticides Management Bill. The deaths in rural Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana highlighted the fact that the Insecticides Act...

-TheWire.in The need of the hour is to set up a farmer pay commission, which can fix a minimum assured income of a farmer household. About halfway during the budget speech – while announcing the government’s plans for dealing with India’s agrarian crisis – finance minister Arun Jaitley made a rather bizarre statement. Apparently, according to Jaitley, the Modi government has already provided more than 50% margin over cost of production for...

-The Indian Express Linking it to ration cards ends up denying poor their rightful entitlements In September 2017, 11-year-old Santoshi, resident of Simdega district of Jharkhand, succumbed to starvation. According to her mother, she died “asking for rice, but there was not a single grain at home”. She was deprived of her subsidised ration as her family’s ration card was cancelled because it was not linked to Aadhaar. Marandi in Jharkhand met...

-The Hindu Can sparkling Mahua replace Champagne and Proseco as the drinks of choice in the new year? One of the most valuable characteristics of economic life in Europe is the tremendous importance it gives to local resources, skills and spaces, whether through need or intent. Geographical labels for specific products, especially wines and spirits, significantly contribute to local economies. Every French or Italian region has at least a few products from the...