This year, within the world of research organisations, the big news is the suspension of FCRA registration of Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and probe into Oxfam India accounts. Both are interlinked as per news reports: Oxfam giving funds to CPR, without authorization. However, the amount under probably investigation from Oxfam India, as per Annual Report 2021-22, was a mere[Read More…]
To Joint Secretary (Plant Protection), Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of India, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi-110 001. E Mail: jspp-dac@gov.in. Sub: Comments/ Suggestion on the Draft Insecticides (Prohibition) Order, 2023 Ref. : 1. Gazette Notification, No.:S.O 701(E), dated 2nd February, 2023 Gazette Notification, No.:S.O 1512(E) dated 18th May 2020 Gazette[Read More…]
Corona had severe impact on handloom sector and weaver livelihoods. Most of them have slipped into poverty. Unfortunately, there is no change in the budget for handloom sector, from the previous interim budget. It is a mere Rs.495.32 crores. Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, a woman Union Finance Minister, who wears handloom sarees and has a good understanding of handloom products, failed[Read More…]
Background In 2017, hundreds of small-scale farmers and farm workers were poisoned – and over 20 died – in just a few weeks whilst spraying pesticides on cotton fields in the district of Yavatmal. A key product involved was the insecticide Polo, manufactured by Syngenta. The use of Polo’s active ingredient diafenthiuron is long banned in Switzerland and the European[Read More…]
Bio contamination from labs is a serious concern that can have social, economic, political and environmental implications. Sometimes, irreversible ecological contamination is a given consequence. Health Canada reports that world-wide until 1999 over 5,000 cases of accidental laboratory infections and 190 deaths[1] have been recorded. These reports are the tip of the iceberg and point to the clear dangers and[Read More…]
Corona pandemic is spreading and intensifying in India, in this year. Last year, despite fears, people did not feel the problem as much as now. In March, 2020, lockdown was justified citing the dismal health infrastructure in India. With images of individuals falling in the streets of China, Spain and Italy haunting, there was an expectation that situation in India[Read More…]
Democracy is all about access to resources, rights, participation in decisions, freedom and the ability to pursue choice. Democracy the world over has been under threat, in recent times. In fact, in India, increasingly dilution of democratic processes can be traced to chronology of globalisation of Indian economy. There is a perspective wherein globalisation is aligned with the democracy. Globalisation[Read More…]
G20 Biofuel Alliance threatens Food security 
Thousands Of Auto Workers Strike In Three U.S. Plants, Face Financial Hardship 
Submission To Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission, NACC: Mainstream Media Lying 
In The Name of Decolonization 
Is This the End of French Neo-Colonialism in Africa? 
Tel Aviv’s Losing Brands: Israeli ‘Coup’ and the Death of False Democracy 
Tackling Global Emergencies – UN International Day of Peace 
The Futility of Feudalistic Democracy 
Bayer over-riding Bhartiya Krishi 
Pulwama Bombing 14th February 2019: Unanswered Questions 
Himalayan Apple Growers Worried Over Increasing Threat from Imports 
After protests in flood-hit Derna, Libyan officials order journalists to leave 
International Day of Peace: Fostering Harmony and Unity in a World of Diversity 
More Butterflies, Fewer Billionaires — Unrigging the Global Economy 
Veganic Farming: How My Tiny Plot Produced 5,000 Pounds of Food Without Using Manure 
Fighting the Diaspora: India’s Campaign Against Khalistan 
CAIR Files Lawsuit to End Islamophobic No Fly List 
N.D.Mahanor, The Poet Who Taught Us to See Culture in Agriculture 
Dark and light streaks in India-China relations 
Why the Central Government Should Rush Special Aid Package for Himachal Pradesh 
Special Session: Another Image-Boosting Move? 
Eddelu ( Wake up) Karnataka: The Great Citizen’s Wall Against BJP 
Urgency of Improving Dam Safety Re-Emphasized in Libya and Ukraine 
Climate Crisis Threatens Largest U.S. Cities 
Little Amal Entertains and Informs on Refugee Children’s Strife 
Google Trial Must Fuel the Global Movement Against Digital Capitalism 
Linking Aadhaar With NPR Records: Is it Based on Informed Consent? 
In the debates before 2024 Elections in India, Agenda for Justice, Peace, Democracy and Environment Most Needed 
US imperialist hypocrisy and the Libyan flood 
Some Remarks on Russia in Global Politics Today 
A climate of Insanity 
Brief for Murder: Pinochet’s Apologists Five Decades On ‘Epidemic’ or Revolution: The Other Side of the West Africa Upheaval 
White Nationalism and Donald Trump 
How Arab Leaders Betrayed Islam and Defied the Logic of Political Change, Peace and Security? 
Providing Schools for the Most Marginalized Children in Remote Villages 
Three Former French Sahel Colonies Form Military Alliance 
Resisting Genetically Mutilated Food and the Eco-Modern Nightmare: Together, ‘Just You and Me’ 
Ramasamy Naicker Periyar’s Uttar Pradesh connection 
The Bicycle-Selected Writings on Bicycle 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
