Bihar : what next? Rural India continues to bleed! The urban English press is full of news from Lalu Yadav’s Bihar. This is election time, with Congress trying to outwit Lalu who is a master of the game of outwitting! Yes, the continuous abduction news make the state a dark corner of India! So, what…
Category: Agriculture
Innovative strategies in farming
The cry of the hour! Every agri sector is getting thoroughly bureaucratised! The way all the other initiatives in the past had turned out to be. Take Nabard itself. It had grown into well-entrenched bureaucracy, no further innovation under the existing Nabard setup is possible. There are on paper Nabard officials at every district. But…
Parliamentary Committee dissatisfied with crop loans by banks
Parliamentary members are once rated very high in society. Now? One is not sure. There are now reports on how our hon’ble MPs conduct themselves in Parliament. The Rajya Sabha is packed with all sorts of people, there are valid criticisms about how the RS members are nominated. It is even said the RS as…
Farmers’suicides in the news
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised a new controversy with his teacher’- like exposition of the finances of the State Electricity Boards. In inaugurating a power station in Himachal Pradesh, the PM said free power to farmers is not justified and also asked for reducing power subsidies to farmers. This has raised a storm. The first…
NGOs haven’t changed rural India’s face!
What hopes NGO would make a change this time? President Abdul Kalam inaugurated a three-day national summit on rural NGOs in Delhi in April. He spoke with much candour and conviction. What he said is that a large number of NGOs that get lots of foreign funds don’t spend them properly. The funds don’t reach…
Deliver services at farmers doorsteps!
Bankers’ behaviour must change The latest news that thanks to agriculture’s strong growth, the economic growth figure had dramatically gone up to nearly 9 percent must cheer all lovers of agriculture! So, farming still matters in the national priorities? But what about the politicians mindset? The PM/FM’s mindset towards farmers? No way to know! This…
Agriculture problems are practical problems!
Agriculture needs practical solutions! There was recently the Rajya Sabha debate on farmers issues, farmers’s suicides for a record five and half hours. Members cutting across party lines spoke unani mously. M.S.Gill, a former Union Agriculture Secretary, being a senior authority on the subject said it is too serious a topic. So too Rajya Sabha…
Unsafe foods flood the market!
A new food safety law Weak consumer rights movement need activation. Sudan-I dye in Indian chillies creates a scare all over the world about India’s food safety standards. World Consumers Day was duly celebrated. Unsafe foods, GM foods, potato, soya, maize based foods with no labels flood our super stores. Food eating out is growing…