Yogita Limaye, CNN-IBN Click to play video Mumbai: A mother’s tears, a son’s shaved head are telltale signs that death has struck the household in Vidarbha’s Wardha district. Kamlabai Bhoyar’s 28-year-old son Umesh committed suicide on November 17. He was worried about the Rs 1.5 lakh loan he’d taken. It’s a double tragedy for Kamlabai, whose older [...]

Nourishing the PlanetAgriculture, Fertilizer, Livestock, Permaculture, Soil, Waste, Water By Joseph Zaleski Crops need air, sun, water, and soil to thrive. When it comes to soil, however, quality usually trumps quantity. Rich and fertile land boasts a healthy mixture of phosphorous, potassium, and nitrogen, along with water, air, and soil micro-organisms that break down organic matter. But what happens when these elemental [...]

Sukhpal Singh With the Union Cabinet deciding to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail on Thursday the way has been cleared for the entry of global supermarket giants in India. There are doubts and fears amid hopes for long-term gains Photo: S Chandan   ONE of the conditions for 51% FDI [...]

NAGPUR: November 30th 2011 The claim of Indian Govt. that farmers Suicide by farmers have dropped drastically in the current year due to government initiatives is misleading as country is under severe agrarian crisis due to crop failure in major state suicide prone states Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as there is severe cotton ,soybean  and paddy crop [...]

We are hearing Manmohan Singh and his gang, Saharad Pawar, Jaiprakash Narayan and others batting for FDIs in Retail oector and saying that FDIs in retail sector will increase employment opportunities and provide better prices to farmers.  In US the organised retail sector led by Walmart has successfully pushed down the prices for the farmers [...]

If the word crisis is vastly overused, to speak of a global food crisis is, if anything, an understatement. The first signs of trouble appeared in 2000, when global grain stocks declined for the first time in several decades, but it was not until the spring of 2007 that the full gravity of what was [...]

The HinduThe longer organic variety of rice versus HYV variety. Photo: Mahim Pratap Singh Till last year, Shiv Singh, a landless labourer from the Pinarayi village of Damoh district knew of only one survival strategy-migrating to Delhi to earn his living as a construction worker. This year, with the Rs. 8,000 he had saved from [...]

Of the world’s 50,000 edible plant species, only a few hundred find their way to menus around the globe. Of those, just three — rice, wheat and maize — make up two-thirds of the human food supply. And only rice is responsible for feeding half the world, or more than 3.5 billion people. In other [...]

Jean Dreze, The Hindu, Op-Ed November 28, 2011 The Socio-Economic and Caste Census is supposed to “rank” rural households on a scale of ‘0 to 7.’ Pictured here are villagers at Maripalle, near Visakhapatnam. Photo: K.R. Deepak The National Food Security Bill makes a futile and counterproductive distinction between ‘Priority’ and ‘General’ households, even after [...]

by Shubhangi Khapre November 28, 2011 DAILY NEWS AND ANALYSIS - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_sharad-pawar-says-fdi-will-help-farmers_1618263 At a time when the opposition parties and some of the alliance partners supporting the UPA government are raising a hue and cry over the 51% foreign direct investment in retail, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has come out in strong defence of prime minister [...]