The six-year-old Seeds Bill could be the next headache for the UPA government in Parliament. As the government plans to introduce the Bill in the Rajya Sabha this week, the Opposition, especially the Left parties, and several farmers’ organisations have ganged up against some of its provisions. The Left is also in touch with other political parties to put pressure on the government to remove certain “ antifarmer” clauses in the Bill. The...

Seeks public opinion on list put up on Rural Development Ministry website  Ministry invited applications for setting up a panel of 100 eminent citizens Only five women on the list; people from all States not represented The Rural Development Ministry has prepared its first provisional list of 65 eminent citizens for monitoring the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). It put the names on the website, seeking public...

Nearly 2 lakh farmers committed suicide in India since 1997. The share of big five states accounted for 1,22,823 suicides in this 12 year period. The data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau points out that 16,196 farmers in India ended their life in 2008. K Nagaraj, an economist, in his report Farmers' suicides in India: Magnitude, Trends and Spatial Patterns, says, "The title to land was taken as the...

The Bt brinjal furore has brought to light a little-known government notification that plucked 190 species of plants out of the protective sphere of a law on biodiversity, triggering fears among some environmental groups that these biological resources may now be plundered with ease. The environment ministry had declared in the notification last year that the provisions of the National Biodiversity Act — India’s only legislation to protect its biodiversity —...

The Church of England has sold its shares in Vedanta Resources, owned by NRI businessman Anil Agarwal, saying it is unhappy with the way the company is pursuing a project in south Orissa against the wishes of a local tribe. The Church sold its £2.5-million stake today after its representatives visited the Niyamgiri hills in poverty-ridden Kalahandi. The area is considered sacred by the Dongria Kondh tribe. Vedanta intends to mine the...