-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...

-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...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: The industrial sector has been taking the flak for emitting high levels of hazardous gases over the years but it might ultimately be our homes that are responsible for the highest emission of greenhouse gases. A recently published study conducted by the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, found that the domestic sector was one of the highest contributing factors to greenhouse...

-Down to Earth Study also stresses on positive impact of sanitation on nutrition status of children Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico may be rising economic powerhouses, but these fast-expanding, middle-income countries are still home to nearly half of the world's hungry people, numbering 363 million, says a new report. In such a scenario, attention must be paid to those living in the "economic middle" to effectively combat hunger and malnutrition on a...

-Frontline If Budget 2015 is any indication, the Modi government is going beyond what could be called benign neglect of agriculture to policy moves that are likely to harm its viability. IT is scarcely surprising that farmers are upset with the Narendra Modi government. Indeed, the rosy dreams created by that famous campaign advertisement of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when farmers spoke of the high crop prices and better cultivation conditions...