Down To Earth

Farmers from Jharkhand’s Singhbhum district, a tribal area, alleged that the government and industrialists are trying to destroy their traditional knowledge of agriculture and looting cultivable land.

This happened on the last day of a conference held on ‘Traditional agriculture: challenges and possibilities’ at Chaibasa this month. These farmers belonged to Gangaram Kalundia Forum, named after a leader who was murdered in 1982 while fighting for the villagers’ fundamental rights against displacement.

The Tribune

Swantanter Kumar, retired Supreme Court judge and former chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, on Thursday stressed the need to create awareness among the farming community regarding ill-effects of the crop residue and stubble burning in the fields. He was at the agriculture department of Khalsa College to attend a national seminar seminar on ‘Modern Agricultural Practices: Environmental and Health Risks’, sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC). He said, “There is a need to educate farmers about the ill-effects of the large-scale stubble burning. The coercive measures being adopted by the successive governments alone will not work. If we do not wake up to the rising threat of monstrous air pollution leading to engulf of smog ...