-The Telegraph Shreya Singhal has helped undo what the UPA, the NDA and Mamata Banerjee had done to free speech. Shreya, the girl who once woke up with consternation to news that two girls in Maharashtra had been booked for a Facebook post, was the first petitioner who approached the Supreme Court against Section 66A, which was struck down today. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act has been the favourite tool...
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Farmers' Rights to Seeds Issues in the Indian Law -Parameswaran Prajeesh
-Economic and Political Weekly While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these varieties have been brought under legal protection through national legislation. Parameswaran Prajeesh (prajeesh@mssrf.res.in) is a researcher with the...
More »Cultivating the Farmer -Ravi Shankar
-The New Indian Express For now the storm is over. Untimely monsoons, which create much havoc for farmers, became a parliamentary allegory with the Congress raining on Modi's parade over the Land Bill. In spite of all the manoeuvring that will follow, clouds threaten to hang low over the next session too. This is indicated in Sonia Gandhi's decision to take to the streets in protest - a leaf taken from...
More »Bombay high court clears higher payout for farm land acquisition -Swati Deshpande
-The Times of India MUMBAI: In a landmark judgment, the Bombay high court has paved the way for the state to pay higher compensation to farmers whose land it acquires for public projects. The court held that financial constraints or project cost escalations cannot be a reason to shortchange farmers and set aside a government decision to fix a multiplier factor of 1.1 on market rates even though the law says...
More »In arid Marathwada, villagers dig hours to fill a pot of water -Priyanka Kakodkar
-The Times of India BEED/JALNA: In the pitch darkness at 3am, the village of Katchincholi empties out onto the bone-dry river bed of the Godavari. Armed with as many pots as they can carry, the women start digging the gravel with their hands. Once a muddy pool of water appears, they scoop it into their pots. Then they strain the sludge and stones. This is the water the village drinks. A single...
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