India is among the worst affected globally by climate change, with its agriculture sector hit hard by rising temperatures, freak rainfall, and changing seasons. Over the past few months, large swathes of the sub-continent have witnessed heat alerts in February, followed by untimely rains and weather...
The conventional agro-climate is shifting and we are in a transition phase, which may last till 2027, if not more. India needs to move towards organic agriculture. This is a long-term way of building resilience and climate-proofing our agrarian communities The weather this season has been...
Hailstorms and rain could have reversed an otherwise healthy wheat crop this season. After a promising Rabi sowing, the wheat crop was looking good. By January 14, farmers across the north from Punjab to Madhya Pradesh were reading signs of a good wheat crop. There was...
Rakesh Tikait spoke to The Wire about why farmers are still organising, whether they should enter politics, the urgent need for policy reform and more On the eve of the Delhi kisan mahapanchayat, The Wire interviewed farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait. Below are excerpts from the interview. What happened...
With the general elections a year away, farmers' unions say they will build more pressure on the government to resolve their issues and 'will take their movement to its logical end'. New Delhi: The morning was already grey and windy when I reached the Kisan Mahapanchayat on...
Here’s why bumper harvests lead to crashing prices. Allahabad/Bulandshahr/Nashik: As the Rabi harvests start, Abhay Singh’s heart begins to sink. He has four acres of rocky land in Baasghat village in the trans-Yamuna area of Allahabad. He toiled all season to grow mustard, wheat and chickpea, hoping...
Women from nearly 70 villages in and around Zaheerabad have been using traditional methods to save seeds and practice climate-smart techniques to have good returns on their crops in this dry region. Zaheerabad (Telangana): Hidden in the red rocky dry land, a revolution is growing. In and...
The symptoms are extreme weather events reported throughout the country. But the question is, what is our agrarian policy doing to counter it? It isn’t just the national capital undergoing heatwaves ― it is now clear that India is experiencing a shift of seasons. The symptoms are extreme...
The green growth policy outlook is definitely progressive as it doesn’t see agriculture in isolation but as a holistic system. When it comes to agriculture, the union budget 2023-24 was quite unexpected. Moving away from convention, the Finance Minister unveiled a new policy outlook- Green growth...
Winter afternoon was getting warmer with conversation. Day one, Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) had Shashi Tharoor in a battle of wits with Caroline Elkins, historian and author of Legacy of Violence. The topic was the British Empire versus the Nazis. Naturally, Tharoor exposed the terrible torture...