-GaonConnection.com The Indian government is considering ‘mandatory’ food fortification in the country. Several health experts have written to FSSAI calling the decision ‘a blanket approach’ to meet the complexity of malnutrition in the country. Details here. At least 170 people and organisations, including medical experts and nutritionists, have today, on August 2, written a letter to Ashok Kumar Mishra, the assistant director of Food Fortification Resource Centre, department that regulates food under...

-Newsclick.in The votaries of economic reforms miss the point that while it may have increased GDP growth rate, it has worsened the conditions of the working people. It is 30 years since India adopted neoliberal policies in 1991, though some would date their introduction even earlier to 1985. Newspapers are full of assessments of the impact of these policies on the economy, and liberalisers from Manmohan Singh downward, have suddenly become visible,...

-Down to Earth Never seen a drought of this magnitude, claim farmers; paddy crop affected Climate change is real. Droughts in the rainy state of Assam are not unheard of anymore. Warmer temperatures have affected the state’s tea gardens for a decade. Now, places recently experiencing unexpected and longer dry spells are catching the eye.  “Never before have I seen drought in this region,” said Dipantor Soh, a 28-year-old farmer from Mirigaon, a...

-TheWire.in 'They made us buy seeds and fertilisers when the market prices crashed. Then, Pepsi said my produce didn’t meet their grade.' New Delhi: It rained all day as another session of the Kisan Sansad (farmers’ parliament) was in progress. Even a neem tree and a canopy couldn’t keep the Sansad venue from getting drenched. But this was no deterrent for those in attendance. The topic for the day was the Contract Farming...

-Down to Earth Late transplantation of paddy crops may lead to crop yield loss of up to 50 per cent  An erratic monsoon has dented the hopes of Bihar’s farmers of a good Kharif 2021.   The rainfall was very heavy in parts of the state and scanty in others, because of which the cultivators have not been able to transplant paddy seedlings or sow maize seeds. Around 50 per cent of the...