-Down to Earth The method was promoted as low-cost investment on part of farmers, but huge amounts are being raised for statewide implementation Andhra Pradesh has played a leading role in promoting agroecological farming in the past two decades. The Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) initiative of the state is often cited as a major intervention which encouraged farmers to gradually move away from chemical-intensive farming. However, despite such efforts, just 1...
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Why govt's GM policy defers logic, hurts farmers
-The Financial Express When several NGOs and others protested against the GEAC report, the UPA's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh decided not to give the final go-ahead. As farmers under the umbrella of the Shetkari Sangathana start their civil disobedience movement and plant the banned Herbicide Tolerant (HT) GM seeds as well as Bt brinjal, chances are the authorities will treat this as yet another law and order issue and will arrest them;...
More »monsanto allowed to claim patent on GM cotton seeds
-The Hindu Business Line Shares of monsanto India Ltd climb as much as to Rs 2,669, their highest since Sept. 26 The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed monsanto Technology to claim patent on its genetically-modified cotton seeds, giving a boost to firms developing new seed technologies. The ruling overturned an order of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court last year which invalidated the patent granted to monsanto — acquired by German...
More »monsanto's profits, not Diwali, creating smoke in Delhi -Arvind Kumar
-SundayGuardianLive.com In December 2017, this newspaper exposed in an article entitled “Law aiding monsanto is reason for Delhi’s smoke season” how a law to help monsanto was the reason for the Delhi metropolitan region being blanketed in smoke every November. That law, the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act of 2009, imposed a delay on farmers who wanted to plant rice. The delay in planting in turn created a delay in...
More »The Age of Surplus -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express We have, indeed, entered a regime of “permanent surpluses” in most crops — a reality our policymakers are unable to grasp, stuck as they are in the era of the Essential Commodities Act. If there is one thing that has changed in Indian agriculture in recent times, it is supply response — the ability of farmers to increase production when prices go up. Traditionally, the supply curve in most...
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