Most Recent Content-
- Wednesday, Jan 27, 2010
Commentary Ten years from now, in 2020, when we try to look back, Indian agriculture can be transformed into a healthy and vibrant system where farmer suicides have been relegated to history, where distress and despondency has been replaced by the lost pride in farming, where agriculture becomes sustainable in the long run, and does not add on to global warming. -
- Sunday, Jan 03, 2010
Video Dr.Devinder Sharma in conversation with Ajay Kanchan on the perils of Genetically Modified Food -
- Saturday, Jan 02, 2010
Commentary There is something terribly wrong with growth economics. After all, 18 years after India ushered in economic liberalisation, the promise of high growth to reduce poverty and hunger, has not worked. In fact, it has gone the other way around: the more the economic growth, the higher is the resulting poverty. -
- Saturday, Nov 28, 2009
Commentary I think the eulogisation of Tata's has gone too far. Behind all the glamour, sobriety and humanitariasm that we read and hear about Tata's, there is a dark hidden side which is kept under wraps. It is time we look at the destructive role Tata's have played over the years in uprooting thousands of poor families, and the resulting destruction of livelihoods and the environment. -
- Saturday, Nov 07, 2009
ZNet Article Prime Minister Manmohan Singh often expresses his side of the dormant human face that lies somewhere burried deep inside him. A day before yesterday, as a Maoist bandh began in Orissa and in parts of West Bengal, Prime Minister acknowledged there has been a 'systemic failure' in ensuring the progress of tribals. "We've failed tribals, want to rectify that." -
- Saturday, Oct 31, 2009
Commentary The countdown has begun. The forthcoming UN Climate Change conference (popularly called CoP 15) scheduled to be held at Copenhagen from Dec 7-18 2009 is generating tremendous excitement. Climate change has suddenly become the buzzword. As top political leaders are getting ready to descend on Copenhagen, there is surely a thrill in the air. -
- Monday, Oct 19, 2009
Commentary The late agronomist Norman Borlaug, regarded as the father of the "Green Revolution", is credited with saving millions from starvation. Despite the criticisms of environmentalists, Borlaug had a strong appreciation for the centrality of farmers' livelihoods in maintaining food security, writes Devinder Sharma. -
- Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Commentary Come to think of it. Over the last few years, there is more prosperity visible all around. More people have disposable incomes, more people are now travelling abroad, more people are flying around in the country, more people throng the super malls, more cars (including the luxury models) clog the roads, more restaurants are now dotting the streets, and so on. The rich have become super rich and the middle class is fast catching up. -
- Monday, Mar 30, 2009
Commentary Top leaders from the largest 20 economies of the world -- called G-20 -- will assemble in London on April 2. As the Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros said: "this will be the world's last chance to avert economic disaster." -
- Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009
Commentary Lies, damn lies, and the Monsanto website. Tell a lie a hundred times, and the chances are that it will eventually appear to be true. When it comes to genetically modified crops, Monsanto makes such an effort – and it could be that you too are duped into accepting their distortions as truth. -
- Sunday, Nov 23, 2008
Commentary This isn't a tale from Panchtantra. Nor is it from Aesop's Fables. -
- Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008
Commentary It didn't hurt when the farmers were dying. Over 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in the past 15 years. And more than 40 per cent of India's 600 million farmers want to quit agriculture looking for menial jobs in the cities. -
- Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008
Commentary The giants have stepped on a financial minefield. In the past six months, three of America's top five investment banks have disappeared. The remaining two - Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs - are gasping for breath. While Morgan Stanley is considering merger options, the stocks of Goldman have slumped. -
- Friday, Sep 19, 2008
Commentary Science, economics and politics have a strong correlation. Whether it is the continuing debate on international trade or the growing heat on global warming, it is invariably politics that determines the final agenda. -
- Tuesday, Sep 02, 2008
Commentary After the rats, goats, sheep and cows, it is now the turn of Indians. In a few months from now, if the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India has its way, the first genetically modified food crop - Bt Brinjal - will be on your table. -
- Tuesday, Aug 05, 2008
Commentary In an editorial entitled 'The Next Step for World Trade' (Aug 2, 2008), the New York Times wrote: "The battle lines for the new world order were exposed at the World Trade Organization this week. The breakdown of the Doha round of trade negotiations over a clash between the United States and China and India about farm protection underscores how these new economic giants are changing the balance of power." -
- Thursday, Jul 31, 2008
Commentary It was a close call. Till the last minute, suspense became overbearing. Glued to our seats and teetering on the brink of fear, with abated breath we awaited the outcome of the last minute efforts to save an unjust an inequitable "Doha round" deal. And as news started to trickle in signaling the collapse of the WTO mini-Ministerial, a sigh of relief emerged. -
- Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008
Commentary It couldn't have been better timed. Global food crisis is turning out to be a savior for the agribusiness industry. More free trade and a fast track adoption of genetically modified crops are being proposed as the possible solution. -
- Saturday, Mar 22, 2008
Commentary The Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver is a positive step towards addressing agrarian distress. But the 25,000 crore booster for new farm initiatives, which focuses entirely on agribusiness, corporate agriculture and food retail, is likely to lead to further despair. The focus should be on sustainable agriculture -
- Monday, Oct 01, 2007
Commentary As a child I had always wondered as to why pigeons shut its eyes when it sees a cat. After all, how na•ve or stupid depending on how you perceive the act, can the pigeons be to think that a visible threat to its life, which is as sure as death, can be sim -
- Tuesday, Jul 17, 2007
Commentary It was on the cards. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing the formation of a new rehabilitation policy for farmers displaced from land acquisitions, it is now official -- farmers have to quit agriculture. -
- Saturday, Jun 23, 2007
ZNet Article Displacing farmers: India Will Have 400 million Agricultural Refugees: -
- Saturday, Feb 17, 2007
Commentary Farmers in United States, Europe and for that matter in other rich and industrialised countries are quitting agriculture. That makes me wonder. Why? After all, they get huge subsidies. They have the advantage of being literate and techno-savvy. They can t -
- Sunday, Dec 17, 2006
Commentary What is it like to be a modern-day Indian prince? Devinder Sharma and Bhaskar Goswami explain how the laws of the land are being redefined to bring in the reality of the royal tag for the rich and beautiful. -
- Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006
Commentary Expressing hope over efforts to revive the deadlocked World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: "Development dimension must get the prominence and attention -- not in term of words, but in terms of solid deed -
- Wednesday, Apr 19, 2006
Commentary He came, he spelled out his bias and yet he threatened. Pascal Lamy hasn't changed. Unable to throw away the grotty hat he had been wearing all these years, as trade commissioner for the European Union, he now operates as if he is the chief trade negotiat -
- Sunday, Mar 26, 2006
Commentary Forty years after the first Green Revolution was launched, Indian agriculture is faced with an unprecedented crisis. Unmindful of the destructive prowess of the alient technology, the impact of which is being felt all over the country - farm incomes plumm -
- Sunday, Feb 12, 2006
ZNet Article Harkishanpura is a non-descript village in Bathinda district of Punjab in northwestern India. It suddenly made its way into news when in an unprecedented move the village panchayat announced that the village was up for sale. That was in Jan 2001. Since than five more villages in Punjab - in the midst of the food bowl of the country - are awaiting auction.
What began as an isolated an... -
- Saturday, Dec 24, 2005
Commentary Much Ado About Nothing -
- Sunday, Nov 27, 2005
Commentary Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is not a farmer, but she is amongst the highest recipient of agricultural subsidies. In 2003-04, she received nearly US $ 1.31 million in farm payments. Her son and heir apparent to the British throne, Prince Charles, received - All Most Recent Content
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