Feature Article

Contamination of their carrion food supply with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac has caused rapid population declines across the Indian subcontinent of three species of Gyps vultures endemic to South Asia. The governments of India, Pakistan and Nepal took action in 2006 to prevent the veterinary use of diclofenac on domesticated livestock, the route by which contamination occurs.

If endosulfan is evil, why does the Indian farmer use it? Surely, there is a farmer's point of view. The first reports linking endosulfan to health problems and birth defects in Kasaragod, Kerala were published in February 2001 in Down to Earth. The Supreme Court has now banned the use of the pesticide till an expert committee submits its report in around eight weeks.

"Those that think that the market-led system is perfect are living in a dream... There is need for an optimal combination of around 70 per cent of market and 30 per cent state influence" - Ashok Gulati, Chairman Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, Ministry of Agriculture, in conversation with Ajay Jakhar and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

The more a farmer spends on fertiliser and pesticide, which he believes that he must to maintain yields from his gradually decaying parcel of land, the more is the rise in the disease burden amongst those who produce the food and those who consume it. It is not just about one shortcoming in the way India calculates food price. It is about a fundamental gap in the economic theory of calculating inflation based on food prices.

Balancing the conflicting interest of farmers, intermediaries and consumers is a tightrope walk for the Indian government even when there is price tranquility. This balancing exercise has become nightmarish in recent years with food inflation showing persistency and turbulence. These developments prompted the Cabinet Secretary to constitute an inter-ministerial group (IMG) to manage overall inflation with a focus on prices of primary food items in February 2011.

This study attempts to establish the challenges associated to solar energy scenario in rural living of south-east of Indian province namely West Bengal and to suggest an inexpensive solar artifact with an aim to cater to the areas which are scarcely electrified and primarily in countryside. Stockpile of fossil fuels are depleting and there is an urgent need of promoting renewable energy products that can pertinently be supported by this clean energy.

As part of the Copenhagen Accord, Annex I Parties (industrialised countries) and non-Annex I Parties (developing countries) have submitted reduction proposals (pledges) and mitigation actions to the UNFCCC secretariat. Our calculations show that if the current reduction offers of Annex I and non-Annex I countries are fully implemented, global greenhouse gas emissions could amount to 48.6–49.7 GtCO2eq by 2020. Recent literature suggests that the emission level should be between 42 and 46 GtCO2eq by 2020 to maintain a “medium” chance (50–66%) of meeting the 2 °C target.

The wider democratic role of panchayats was very much in evidence on April 8, 2011 at a conference on 'Agriculture and Panchayats in Rajasthan in the Specific Context of Agreements with Multinational and other Big Agribusiness Companies'. In this conference panchayat leaders from 14 districts of Rajasthan unanimously called upon the Rajasthan government to cancel agreements on farm research with seven multinational and other big agribusiness companies during 2010.