Channels of interest

THE Union Ministry of Water Resources recently uploaded the draft of National Water Policy, 2012, on its website, inviting comments from the public. The draft underlines the need to treat water as “economic good”, but deliberately misses a crucial point: prioritising competing users of water, thus providing flexibility for allocating water for industrial use even at the cost of agriculture. The approach, says the ministry, is to steer clear of water allocation priorities because they lead to conflict. The Centre had adopted a water policy a decade ago which states that drinking be accorded the highest priority followed by irrigation, hydro-power, ecology, industrial requirement, and navigation and other uses.

Burdened with bumper crop

Uttam Majumdar is unable to sell his 330,000 kg of paddy. He is under pressure from moneylenders from whom he had borrowed over `1 lakh at an interest rate of 60% a year (Photo: Sayantan Bera) LONG known as farmer friendly, West Bengal is now making headlines for farmers’ suicides. Reportedly 31 farmers, including landless farm labourers and small traders of agriculture produce, in the state took their lives between October last year and January.

CAPART up for overhaul

IT IS a government agency that was set up specially to fund non-profits working on rural development. But of late the Council for People’s Action and Advancement of Rural Technology (CAPART) has been plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency. After a few failed attempts to reform CAPART, the government has now decided to overhaul the agency which has close to 12,000 NGOs associated with it.

Jarawas: to protect or not

A RECENTLY released video showing Jarawa women dancing in front of tourists has triggered a debate on whether the ancient tribe of Andaman and Nicobar Islands should be brought into the mainstream. In this context, an expert committee of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has recommended the Central government should not alter the policy of protecting the Jarawas from exposure to the outside world until studies are conducted on their concerns and aspirations. The Jarawas, whose population is just about 300, are known to have little immunity to outside illnesses.

Untangling India’s Bt cotton fraud

WHEN the much-awaited public sector Bt or genetically modified (GM) cotton was released for cultivation in 2009, there was celebration in the scientific establishment. And in the farming community Bikaneri Narma (BN Bt) was trumpeted as India’s “completely indigenous Bt variety” and farmers were looking forward to cheaper cotton seeds. There was an added advantage to BN Bt: unlike the Bt hybrids of private companies the Bt variety could be reused by cultivators. Along with the variety, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) also released the Bt NHH 44 hybrid.

Indian law caught in web

THIS is one series of court cases the nation is following keenly. Within one week, in December last year, a criminal and a civil complaint were filed against 20-odd online giants like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo for hosting anti-religious and anti-social content on their websites. While the judge hearing the civil case ordered immediate removal and blockade of all controversial content from the web forums named in the plaint, the trial court summoned their top executives for violating the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The companies then approached the Delhi High Court for relief, citing that the matter of hosting objectionable content has been oversimplified and does not address the nuances of the way the Internet works.

Cleared at cost of biodiversity

THE UNION environment ministry has given in-principle clearance to a proposed hydro-project on the Alaknanda river, a tributary of the Ganga, in Uttarakhand. The 300 MW project had been rejected twice by the statutory body which recommends forest clearances, the forest advisory committee (FAC). FAC says the project lies in the buffer zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR), a home to many endangered species.

US sets mercury emission limits

TO MINIMISE the largest source of pollution from coal-based and fuel oil power plants, America’s environment protection agency has set the first ever mercury and air toxics standards (MATS). Some 7,000 power plants in the country will now have to reduce their mercury and other toxic emissions levels.

Ministry indifferent to illegal mining

Difficult to digest