-The United Nations   The world will increasingly experience water scarcity for agriculture as a result of climate change, a phenomenon that will affect the livelihoods of rural communities and the food security of urban dwellers, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a survey released today. The impact of climate change on the availability of water include reduction in river run-off and aquifer recharges in the Mediterranean and...

-The Hindu   Drawing attention to the situation in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa, where villagers are peacefully opposing forcible acquisition of their private and forest lands by the Orissa Government for South Korean steel major Posco's project, a report titled “Tearing through the water landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social consequences of Psco project in Orissa, India” was released here on Tuesday. “People have been against industrialisation of their land since November...

“Poor farmers could not fathom why they were beaten up, their houses set afire” Starting from where he left off in Bhatta-Parsaul and emboldened by the success of the Congress campaign against the Mayawati government on the land acquisition issue, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said, “there will be a Bhatta-Parsaul in every village,” to ensure the government's downfall. “The Congress will fight the government at the ground zero...

The National Agro Foundation is on a mission to improve yield and income, especially for small farmers. Anyone planning to improve the lot of farmers in the country would do well to begin with these wise words: “Fallowness is in one's mind and not in the soil.” This was constantly uttered by C. Subramaniam, the architect of India's agricultural policies that led to the Green Revolution. While his policies and high-yielding varieties...

Endosulfan, the pesticide which is widely believed to be responsible for thousands of deaths, diseases and devastation, was able to save its own life largely because of India’s questionable efforts at global forums. The controversial pesticide has been in news for a long time because of its harmful effects on humans, wild life and the environment. Obviously the $100 million industry is going out of the way to defend the...