-India Today Geography of rice and wheat has been transformed with Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh generating surpluses Almost 50 years ago, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri went on air to appeal to Indians to skip a meal a day. Foodgrain supplies had come under strain after the 1965 drought, and the patriotic ethos cautioned against over-consumption: what you ate left that much less for the rest. Today, it is...
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Don’t leave out the small farmer -S Chandramohan
-The Hindu Business Line Whether it is promoting a lease market in land or the use of tractors, credit should be tailored to the needs of marginal players The Finance Minister has announced several measures to make farming competitive and rev up growth in agriculture. While this is welcome, the sector as a whole needs an overhaul to make best use of these measures. To address the needs of landless farmers who are...
More »Time to redefine job surety? -Vibha Sharma
-The Tribune The UPA's flagship programme MGNREGS changed the employment scene for the rural poor. While 100-day job guarantee was a novel step, loopholes and poor implementation rendered it a liability. The Modi govt hopes to gradually reinvent the scheme, if not entirely scrap it. Midway through the Congress-led UPA's second tenure - believed to be largely the courtesy of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) -...
More »The Green Revolution is erroneous? -Boro Baski
-Deccan Herald The Green Revolution has changed life in Indian villages, but the main beneficiaries were the landlords. Daily labourers remain poor and marginalised. The limits of using ever more fertiliser and pesticides are becoming apparent. Many farmers are confused because extension services want them to reconsider practices they were told to abandon not that long ago. A member of the Santal tribe, an Adivasi community, assesses things from the village perspective. Since independence...
More »Greens blame forest cover loss on Forest Rights Act -Vijay Pinjarkar
-The Times of India NAGPUR: With Maharashtra losing 14 sqkm forest cover due to encroachments as per the latest 'India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013', green activists have attributed the dwindling green cover to massive encroachments on forest land done to get permanent pattas under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. The fact is revealed by ISFR 2013 that states that Maharashtra lost 25 sq km in 12 tribal districts since...
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