Even as recent media reports caution that most fruits and vegetables are largely unfit for human consumption due to their high chemical content, pesticides continue to be used recklessly in the fields of Punjab. The ‘Granary of India’ constitutes 2.5 per cent of the total agricultural land in India, but consumes more than 18 per cent of the total pesticides used in India. Within the state the worst affected is the southwestern...
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States, farmer groups unhappy with Seed Bill
The Seed Bill continues to remain stuck in controversy with state governments as well as farmer groups not happy with the current shape of the legislation that the agriculture ministry is keen to introduce in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. The issue of compensation for farmers in case of failure of seeds and regulation of seed prices has been raised by MPs as well as civil society groups. While...
More »No agreement on price regulation and penalty clause in the Seeds Bill by Gargi Parsai
The government failed to reach an agreement with the Members of Parliament, who moved for amendments to the Seeds Bill on the issue of price regulation and penalty for failure of seeds in a meeting convened by the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar here on Wednesday. On other amendments, the members either convinced the government or got convinced. The government will now consult the Ministry of Law on the two issues, Mr...
More »Ryot repays double of loan sum, yet gets notice! by Ramu Bhagwat
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which is spearheading a campaign against the defunct Land Development Bank's forcible recovery drive from farmers in distressed western Vidarbha, has disputed the government claim that only big and habitually defaulting farmers are being targeted. Buttressing their charge that LDB was charging usurious rates, VJAS has highlighted the case of Purshottam Ingle of village Tigoan in Wardha, who borrowed Rs 2,90,000 in 2001 from LDB by...
More »Poverty haunts India's economic miracle
When flames from an open cooking fire raced through Fida Hussein's shack in northern India, it was a disaster for him and his poverty-stricken family. "We have nothing," said Hussein as he stood in the ruins of his hut through which the sky could be seen between the burnt roof timbers in a remote corner of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. India's number of millionaires grew by 51 percent...
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