-Down to Earth States exploit the delay in the drafting of rules for the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act to assert rights over land claimed by communities under the Forest Rights Act More than a year after Parliament passed the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 (CAF), the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is yet to roll out the mandatory rules to implement it. In fact, the ministry in November...
More »SEARCH RESULT
In Gujarat's cotton belt, rising wisps of discontent -Mahesh Langa
-The Hindu Ardent BJP supporters for the past many years, farmers, harried by the poor prices of produce, say enough is enough MORBI: Gangaram Patel, a 50-year-old farmer at Kalyanpar village in Morbi district, grows cotton and groundnut on four hectares of his land. For the past 22 years, he has been a BJP voter. However, this time, Mr. Patel says, he will change his voting preference because the party has done little...
More »Vidarbha farmers in debt trap: Here is how to save them -Vivian Fernandes
-The Financial Express How can the cotton and soybean farmers of Vidarbha and Marathwada supplement their incomes so they can get out of the trap of debt and self-engineered death? That was the theme of Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s ninth edition, four-day agricultural exhibition at Nagpur, called Agrovision, to which I was invited. A promising beginning has been made. In October last year, the National Dairy Development Board commenced operations. It...
More »Delhi's air - a tragedy of the commons Hardayal Singh
-The Hindu Business Line Individuals are unable to modify present behaviour for future, collective gains. Wrong policies exacerbate this tendency The thick pall of smoke and noxious gases engulfing Delhi is an ecological catastrophe. Reflective of a very serious failure of governance, it is also reminiscent of another serious malaise afflicting our society. This relates to the gross misuse of common resources. One of the first persons to reflect upon this kind of environmental...
More »Paddy stubble: The 'burning' conundrum -Shailly Kedia
-The Times of India blog (Voices) Riding on the roads of rural Punjab, a grim spectre unfolds. It is early November and there is fire and smoke all around for the endless land that stretches ahead. It is paddy stubble burning time in the state. This phenomenon is not exceptional to the state of Punjab in India but is also prevalent in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Recently, there has been much...
More »