The recent one-day strike by the fishermen community in some coastal states and the demonstration staged near the Parliament House in Delhi are a measure of how incensed the community is over the proposed new Central legislation to regulate marine fisheries in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Marine Fisheries (Regulation and Management) Bill, 2009, the draft of which has been circulated to states prior to its introduction in...
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The Gene Gun At Your Head by Shoma Chaudhury
IMAGINE THE lowly brinjal you have always known turning into a sci-fi gizmo — with an uncharted potency for good and evil. Imagine a food turned into a pesticide — and you will have a measure of the essential uncertainty around Bt brinjal. When Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced his indefinite moratorium on Bt brinjal on February 9, he halted a juggernaut that could have swept India to a point...
More »Non-GM soya varieties have immense opportunities
Union ministers may be squabbling heatedly over whether the moratorium on Bt Brinjal was right or wrong, but trade associations related to soya, a commodity which has been virtually swamped by the GM variety worldwide, are clear that the growing agri-biotech bandwagon has opened up immense new opportunities for safer, traditional, non-GM soya varieties. The Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association announced the launch of a two day International Soy...
More »UN’s annual conference with civil society groups to spotlight global health issues
Global health will be the focus of this year’s annual United Nations conference with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the head of the UN’s Department of Public Information (DPI) announced today. Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, issued a joint statement with the Australian Government in which he said the UN DPI/NGO conference – now in its 63rd year – will be held in Melbourne from 30 August to 1...
More »Govt to bring women reservation Bill shortly: Sangma
Union minister of state for rural development Agatha Sangma on Tuesday said the Centre would shortly bring women reservation Bill in the parliament. A consensus is being emerged for the early passage of the women reservation Bill and shortly it would be brought in the parliament, Sangma told reporters here after attending a meeting of women from rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The meeting ‘Himalayan Women: Political,...
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