A global scramble for land and mineral resources fuelled by billions of investment dollars is threatening the last remaining wilderness and critical ecosystems, destroying communities and contaminating huge volumes of fresh water, warned environmental groups in London Wednesday. No national park, delicate ecosystem or community is off limits in the voracious hunt for valuable metals, minerals and fossil fuels, said the Gaia Foundation’s report, "Opening Pandora's Box". The intensity of the...
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Sons of the soil by Sonalde Desai
The data show that rural families simply cannot subsist on farm incomes alone There must be a bit of Gandhi in all of us because often our idea of India ultimately boils down to the kisan as the standard bearer of the lakhs of villages that comprise India. Perhaps that is why I tend to look for the signs of transformation in the lives of Indian farmers. The changes in...
More »From food security to food justice by Ananya Mukherjee
If the malnourished in India formed a country, it would be the world's fifth largest — almost the size of Indonesia. According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 237.7 million Indians are currently undernourished (up from 224.6 million in 2008). And it is far worse if we use the minimal calorie intake norms accepted officially in India. By those counts (2200 rural/2100 urban), the number of Indians who cannot afford...
More »Key rules flouted in (Bhushans) Noida farmhouse allotments: UP govt audit by Maulshree Seth
Remember the over 100 farmhouse plots allotted in Noida measuring at least 10,000 sq m each without an auction or a draw of lots, including two to Supreme Court advocate Shanti Bhushan and his son Jayant Bhushan? An audit has now found that not only was there no transparency in the allotment of these plots — 101 in all — but that the Noida Authority had fixed a very low rate,...
More »New green revolution: Producer companies help farmers reap profits by Nidhi Nath Srinivas
Farmers are joining India Inc in mind, body and spirit. In a quiet revolution underway across the countryside, growers are setting up companies, replete with balance sheets, professional CEOs, board of directors, and income tax returns. By pooling together the land and produce of their shareholders, these companies are signing lucrative deals with large retail chains, food companies and exporters keen to establish reliable supply chains. As many as 200 companies...
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