Surinder Sud: Farming without fear
Consider these startling facts. Nearly 45,000 agricultural workers lose their lives every year working in the fields and 755,000 others suffer various kinds of injuries, many of which can be wholly or partially debilitating. The economic losses from such accidents are estimated at a whopping Rs 54,000 crore a year. The annual average rate of [...]
A V Rajwade: Reality checks on growth
Continuing the last week’s argument (“The reality beyond the numbers”, September 1), can the environmental agenda as implemented by our young and energetic minister take precedence over every other objective of the democratic government of a still poor country? Consider the number of major industrial/infrastructural projects/developments [...]
Look, Too Many Hands
When economists turn administrators, or hope to become one, they start to think with their hands both of them. Their response to problems is nearly always on the lines of: "on the one hand... and then on the other..." The majority of experts in our Planning Commission are economists, making it the largest employer of the Indian Economic [...]
Against the grain
On many occasions the point is made that the Supreme Court of India is the most powerful court in the world. The ways in which its powers of judicial review and intervention have been widened in scope are a fascinating study. And this power has been based on the higher judiciary’s credibility to be an institution of last recourse in matters [...]
India’s empty underbelly
'It was not a suggestion, it was an order,' is not a rebuke most self-respecting people would like to hear. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is clearly made of sterner stuff for this is exactly what he heard from the Supreme Court in its order that he make the huge pile-up of foodgrain available either free or at very low prices to people before [...]
SC for Santa Claus
There is absolutely no denying the fact that the sight of rotting food stocks on the one hand and hungry poor on the other is a blot on government and governance in India. Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar deserves all the rap on the knuckles that the country’s highest judiciary can give. Indeed, Mr Pawar ought to step down apologising for [...]
Limits to biotechnology
The revelation by the developer of pest-protected Bt cotton Bollgard, Monsanto-Mahyco, that pink bollworm pest has developed resistance to the killer Bt gene, Cry1Ac, in parts of Gujarat, and the rebuttal of this by a government-funded cotton research institute have created a fresh, albeit avoidable, controversy around genetically modified (GM) [...]
Latha Jishnu: Sweeping powers, glaring omissions
Shortcuts always lead to problems, and nowhere is this more evident than in the biotechnology sector. Research in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) crops was permitted, both in the public and private sectors, even before a clear policy was in place and before any guidelines had been formulated on the priority areas for Indian agriculture. Nor [...]
Busting Urban Legends
France was only 55 per cent urban in the 1940s; so were large parts of Europe. Today, France, Italy and Spain, not to mention Germany and Scandinavia, are only 2-3 per cent rural. This is an indication of their prosperity. Latin America has just driven in to the smart set. Its high speed urbanisation, like a souped-up limo, touched 85 per cent at [...]
Surinder Sud: Harvesting freshness
Indian farmers are known to be second to none when it comes to adoption of new technology. But, what is not so well-appreciated is that many of them are daring enough to take a break from traditional crops and venture into wholly new fields and make a success of it through their own ingenuity or with some institutional or state help. There are [...]