Learning the difference between cooked food and uncooked food can happen only through Experience!

Local Governance: Roots of Democracy

In the administration of Indian Democracy, Local Governance Bodies are established to empower the common man and to decentralize the powers of the State. As per the Constitution, the finance provided by the Centre to the States should be distributed to the Local Governance Bodies by the State Governments - for Infrastructure Development and other Essential Utilities work like road laying, water management etc.

For such works to happen effectively, Contract are to allocated based on the resolutions passed in the corresponding Local bodies. However, against this norm, the Tamilnadu Government took Suo motto decisions on issuing these contracts without involving the Local Bodies in 2019.

A few local leaders went to the Court saying its 'unconstitutional'. At the end of the proceedings at the Hight Court, the order was passed in favour of the Local leaders, cancelling contracts worth 2,650 crores of rupees.

Its a Judgement that every Indian who believes in the Constitution should appreciate and apply in their own context!Let's make Bharath Matha proud again!

For more details, the Judgement can be downloaded from here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Xcc7Txs1suy9sWdkVHcu64TnWUmU8z5/view?usp=sharing

Translated from Anandha Vikatan, 21st Oct 2020, P6

Honey Adulteration in India

The Delhi based CSE (Center for Science & Environment) has yet again done useful research to bring out some ugly facts about Honey in India.

It took many months of investigation to find that Sugar syrup imported from Chinese companies can PASS the test prescribed by FSSAI for adulteration in India. Only when it was tested through the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) test, the adulteration was identified.

CSE has also exposed the modus operandi of different companies on both the Indian and Chinese side who are involved in the import/export of this high tech sugar syrup. 9 out of the 13 major brands has failed so far in this NMR Test. To know more, please read:

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/health/it-s-sugar-honey-and-it-s-a-crime-74489

The fact that a Germany based testing laboratory is required to prove the purity of our Indian Honey shows how complex our Food system has become. How much more can be handle this ever increasing complication in the food we eat? The simplest and easiest thing one can do as a common man is start buying honey from the neighborhood stores which sells unbranded honey coming directly from local farmers and cooperatives.

Buying local improves Local Economy. Better Local Economy brings better Local Governance. Better local governance ensures better well being of the Community one lives in.

Thoughts on Farm Laws 2020

Published on: 13 Feb 2021
by: C. Balachandran

There is an overwhelming consensus on the opinion that the current APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) system is totally corrupt and is a hindrance rather than a facilitator in the Agri produce marketing. The question is, should APMC be fully dismantled or reformed. The recently passed law doesn't do both. It just leaves it as is and tries to build a parallel system that will be managed by the private players akin to the current Education system wherein the Government schools are run in parallel to the Private schools.

The Essential Commodities Act came into existence earlier when there was a shortage of Food production in the Country. The Act enforced certain control in the storage and sales of those commodities that are classified as 'Essential'. The new Law removes the 'Essential' classification from those commodities to ensure greater efficiency in the Supply chain of those products. The question is, as the 'essentialness' of those products is crucial for Public Health, shouldn't they continued to be regulated? By scraping the Government regulations around those commodities, it gets 'privatized', meaning they go through the price fluctuations and supply-demand manipulations by the market forces.

The Agriculture Standing Committee has been recommending the development and maintenance of Gramin Haats for every district in the country. This one recommendation has the true potential to double the farmers' income across the country. Since 2000, both the State and Central Governments has been vouching the significance of this initiative but fails to allocate budget saying its the other's domain. The Union Government says its a State subject and the State says it should be spearheaded by the Centre. For a small farmer, geographical proximity of the Market is a critical need, which would give the much needed autonomy and options in decision-making. Why no political party is coming forth to make it happen is anybody's guess!

The current Farmers Protest in Delhi has reached a state of entanglement wherein both the end may end up losing. The only way to exit on a winning note is to educate the common man by creating awareness on the pros and cons of privatizing the Agri production & marketing in our Country by comparing with the experiences of other countries.

Conflicts are as old as Food and Sleep in the Life of Humanity. The only way to overcome conflicts is through cultivation of our Knowledge individually and collectively.