-Down to Earth Instead of burning paddy straw, farmers in Haryana's Panipat district are using it to farm mushrooms. This has eased pollution, too Athick haze would eclipse the sun throughout the day from late October to early November," says Naresh Kumar of Puthar village in Haryana's Panipat district. Sitting beside neatly piled up paddy straw in his small 0.2 hectare field, the 40-year-old farmer is reminiscing about the common practice of...

-Down to Earth Prime minister's statement, agreeing to implement recommendations of India-US joint working group on intellectual property, would make medicines unaffordable for millions of needy, say health activists  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stand on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) became clear when he assured Barack Obama that his government is ready to follow the recommendations of the US-India joint working group. Modi made this statement on Monday while addressing the CEO Forum...

-Down to Earth Shanta Kumar committee report recommends privatisation, outsourcing and cash benefit transfer to cut food procurement and distribution costs The high level committee set up to look into the restructuring of Food Corporation of India has recommended reducing the number of beneficiaries under the Food Security Act-from the current 67 per cent to 40 per cent. It has also recommended allowing private players to procure and store food grains, stopping...

-Down to Earth US actions jeopardise India's pro-poor patent laws that promote generic drugs production, says online global petition More than 75,000 people have requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to succumb to US pressure on Intellectual Property Rights (IP). With trade and intellectual property rights featuring prominently in the agenda of US president Barak Obama's India visit, civil society groups have expressed concern that talks on these issues are designed to make...

-Down to Earth For farmers, trust sells more than organic licence A FOOD SAFETY and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) official walked into Restore, an organic food store at Kottivakkam in Chennai. He picked up a packet of rice off the shelf and noticed some bugs in it. "How can you sell groceries with bugs?" he asked. The staff told him their customers buy their goods precisely because of the bugs in...