Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
"Master Plan to make Delhi slum-free' reads a June 26, 2004 English daily headline. "The Union ministry of urban development plans to prepare a blueprint to make Delhi slum-free in five years. The plan will be ready within a fortnight,' the daily continues. Another tall claim? Potents of another disaster? …
Tourism is damaging freshwater in the Mediterranean basin and growing demand from water-guzzling golf courses, hotels, and aquaparks will further strain resources, environmental group WWF warned. A tourist staying in a hotel uses on average one-third more water than a local inhabitant, while the annual consumption of a golf course …
There are several delivery systems whereby government can help farmers in AP. Some, like the agriculture extension system, institutional lending bodies and irrigation,, have a direct role to play in agriculture. Others, like the Panchayati Raj institutions, should’ve provided the template for success. None are currently of any good. Take …
A women's self-help group in Punukula village approached a bank for a Rs 25,000 loan to buy an electric neem powdering unit last year, and was turned down. The group's credit history was good, say residents of this predominantly tribal village of 204 farming households in Palvoncha mandal of Khamman …
AP's plight brings into sharp focus India's agrarian crisis. The sorry state of institutional credit, consigned to the dustbin, is back on the agenda. The Union government has promised to double institutional credit available to the farm sector. In AP, institutional credit accounts for a mere 20-25 per cent of …
"The strategy for agriculture will certainly create new jobs, especially in the allied sector. However, agriculture's share of employment will actually reduce, from the current 70 per cent to 40-45 per cent.... As economies grow, the focus of economic activity shifts from primary activities to those that lead to greater …
• Taiwan-based company Hong You Technology exported 12,000 tonnes of toxic waste to Malaysia last year. The company claims to have been authorised to do so by the Malaysian as well as Taiwanese authorities. But the Taiwan government asserts that the documents used to obtain the export permit were false. …
Newspaper reports show that from January 1, 2004 to May 16, 2004, about 29 farmers in Andhra Pradesh (AP) committed suicide. From May 17, the suicides suddenly increased: the AP Rytu Sangham, the farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has compiled reports of 279 suicides by farmers …
in view of growing water crisis in Gurgaon, the Haryana government has more than doubled the capacity of the Western Yamuna Canal, raising it from the existing 135 cubic metres per second (cusecs) to 320 cusecs. But experts are sceptical about the measure because, according to them, the main reason …
Its infertile land, lack of irrigation facilities and feudal social order contribute to make Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh one of India's most backward regions. But over the past eight years, things have started looking up in Jalaun and Mahoba districts of the area. Irrigation facilities have improved, food insecurity is …
the famous Silent Valley National Park in Kerala's Palakkad district is under threat from another proposed hydroelectric project. The Rs 450-crore, 70-mega watt Pathrakkadavu Power Project on Kunti river would be sited just 200 metres away from the boundary of the park. The project, proposed by the Kerala State Electricity …
Recent news reports from Mumbai also suggest the existence of a huge medical waste-recycling racket in the city. Private companies have been hired to collect hospital wastes in the city and transport them safely to disposal sites. But they have been found selling these colour-coded bags to recyclers. On May …
the major rivers of northern India and Pakistan will flow strongly for the next 40 years, but thereafter they will be reduced to a mere trickle. This is the message of the first decade-by-decade analysis of the rivers, which are fed by the glaciers of the Himalaya. The analysis has …
I travelled in Kerala last fortnight, seeking answers. I wanted to know what government was doing to meet the drinking water needs of people in this wet-drought state. Searching in villages and academic papers, an anomalous statistic caught my eye. According to 1999 estimations of the National Sample Survey Organisation …
Residents of drought-hit Osmanabad district learn from an innovative programme on groundwater conservation that local involvement and schemes at the micro-level can go a long way in saving the precious resource. Surekha waits in a line for hours on end for the tanker that brings drinking water to her village. …
A sizable number of macrophytes growing luxuriantly in Kawar lake, the largest one of its kind in Bihar, are utilized by the native folk for food (Euryale ferox, Ipomoea aquatica, Nelumbo nucifera, Nymphaea nouchali, Nymphaea sp. - a probable hybrid, Cyperus rotundus), fodder (Commelina benghalensis, Cynodon dactylon, Cyperus iria, C. …
Bangladesh is getting more water than it is supposed to receive under the Water Sharing Treaty with India, which was signed in 1996. This disclosure was made by the two countries' Joint River Commission (JRC). During the first 13 circles out of the total 15 (each comprising 10 days) of …
Researchers from the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences have found that a large number of children in primary schools of the city are deficient in iron, which is crucial for brain development. Iron deficiency, known as anaemia, is also linked to poor capability for skilled movement. The …
