Factory sludge nurtures fodder

Irrigated with industrial effluents

Pune protests Dow research facility

the Maharashtra government has given away about 40 hectares (ha) of grazing land to Dow Chemicals for a research and development facility in Shendi village, 30 km from Pune. Villagers say they were kept in the dark about the Rs 400-crore facility and their dairy business suffered huge losses. Activists say there is no environmental impact assessment report for the project.

Toxic feed turns cattle killer in Sindh

High inflation and the absence of certified feed mills in Pakistan's Sindh province is forcing dairy farmers to use stale bread-- bhosi tukra --in cattle feed. This practice has already caused a catastrophe, when 493 animals died in Karachi's Landhi Cattle Colony in November last year. More than 1,200 animals fell sick.

Dairy paradox

Conditions are ripe for an upturn in India's dairy sector. The government has lifted its ban on the export of milk powder at a time when increasing demand is sending prices of dairy products skyrocketing globally. If the market worked on a straightforward play of demand and supply, Indian producers--most of them small-scale operators--would have been cheering.

Rolling on

Bunga took the sukhomajri story forward The first village to follow Sukhomajri's development model was Bunga, just 30 km away in Haryana's Panchkula district (see timeline: Divergent trajectories). Its success is on a surer footing for now, because it is not dependent on the forest department, but it still needs help from the government in the long term, which it isn't getting.

Now what?

Government must facilitate, not control

Indian farmers get short shrift as country imports wheat

In February this year, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced that the country could export wheat in the near future. "If the current weather persists and the country's wheat production exceeds 72.5 million tonnes, I will allow exports," he said. But the minister seems to have done a volte-face on his statement. India has entered the wheat market all right, but as an importer.

Himachal villagers resist pine monoculture, reclaim forests for fodder

Rolling on

Bunga took the sukhomajri story forward The first village to follow Sukhomajri's development model was Bunga, just 30 km away in Haryana's Panchkula district (see timeline: Divergent trajectories). Its success is on a surer footing for now, because it is not dependent on the forest department, but it still needs help from the government in the long term, which it isn't getting.

Now what?

Government must facilitate, not control