Between a rock and a hard place

Posted on April 23, 2008 by Rahul Dewan

An enlightening (and frustrating) article by P. Sainath. He is an authority on state of Indian agriculture, and has travelled extensively throughout the country, documenting the disgraceful mess created by this entity called “the Indian government”. One of the most popular books he has written, which will send shivers up your spine is, “Everyone loves [...]

Filed under: Agriculture, Economy, State of the Nation | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Rice from obscurity : 70 obsolete indigenous varities have been resusciated

Posted on December 9, 2007 by Rahul Dewan

One more story from Indian Express, on 06 December: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/247445.html. Anupam Pal, Agriculture Development Officer at Agriculture Training Centre (ATC) in Phulia, West Bengal, used a small plot of land next the ATC, to plant 70 varities of indigenous and obsolete varieties of rice.
Only four decades ago 5800 varities of rice were cultivated in West [...]

Filed under: Agriculture, Positive News | Tagged: , , | No Comments »

Punjab farmers rave about rent

Posted on December 9, 2007 by Rahul Dewan

Please read the complete story as appeared on 06 December in the Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/247444.html.
How wonderful to see co-operatives covering some real ground and reaching out to farmers, eliminating or reducing their purchase requirements of expensive farm-equipment.
Also, in some ways, such sharing of machinery and equipment is a way towards ‘enlightened capitalism’, a form of [...]

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Free tractor service to small landowners

Posted on March 4, 2007 by Rahul Dewan

A story from today’s Indian Express: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/24797.html talks about a man Ramesh Arnalkar, a trader from Pune, who is giving out a brand new tractor to small land-owners in Maharashtra’s suicide belt, free of cost to help them till their land, and thus start earning from it. While returning with his wife, Shalini, from a [...]

Filed under: Advocacy and Activism, Agriculture | 1 Comment »