GOI Monitor Desk

IN A free wheeling talk with GOI Monitor, food and trade policy expert Devinder Sharma favours income support for farmers, attacks FDI and indicates that there is a smear campaign going on against the civil society

Tell us about the farmers' commission which the Karnataka government has decided to set up based on your recommendations.

To understand that, let's first talk about all the efforts that have gone into pulling farmers out of poverty. During green revolution, a common parlance gained ground that more you sow, more you produce and hence more your earn. The message found acceptance among farmers who invested a lot of money buying pesticides, fetilizers, seeds and the machinery. However, even after over 40 years of green revolution, the farmers are practically on the poverty line. The NSSO survey of 2003-04 tells us that the average income of a farming family of five members is Rs 2,115. There were only three states above this limit

Disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has been the biggest mystery of modern India running for almost seven decades and involving multiple international link ups, national political interests and mysticism. GOI Monitor talks to journalist-turned researcher Anuj Dhar who recently came up with his second book on Bose which tries to clear several doubts

Q. First of all, congratulations for having written such a well-researched book on the mystery. How do you gauge the sentiments on this issue in today's India when most of the people closely linked to Bose and championing the cause of a fair probe have passed away?

Thank you for the kind words. Justice, transparency and accountability are not tied to any particular period. While the generations before us definitely had a direct connect to Bose, ours is well placed to understand this complex issue. Much more information is available now than ever. I sense scattered but sufficient interest among public over the issue of Bose’s fate. All it needs is a little channelisation.

Fishers are reworking their schedules and taking to community sharing to deal with adverse impact of climate change

IN KAKINADA, Andhra Pradesh, the mechanised boats increasingly operate in groups. In order to save fuel and time, one of the boats is delegated to scout the prospective fishing grounds so the rest could follow only when there is potential for catching prawns. Occasionally, they fan out in different directions and keep in contact with one another to share the news if good catches are sighted. At Venkatanagaram village of the state, a process of ‘twinning’ is undertaken in which two boats agree to work as a unit not to fish together, but to use