Devinder Sharma - Himal Southasian

India, the GM-trashbin

While the world wakes to the human health and environment nuisance of genetically modified crops, India is fast turning into a dustbin for the new technology.

By Devinder Sharma

/ 10 May 2004

Rice and sovereignty

The grain that sustains more than half of the world's population may soon be owned and controlled by a private company.

By Devinder Sharma

/ 13 Mar 2004

Farms and jobs: Not much to feel good about

Hunger has emerged as robustly sustainable in the Southasian heartland.

By Devinder Sharma

/ 15 Feb 2004

Towards a Grey Revolution

The message from the Government of India is becoming clear: farmers get out of agriculture and make way for the contractors.

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Jan 2004

Flogging a dying horse of agricultural research

Bill Gates' donation of USD 25 million for 'biofortification'—breeding crops with higher levels of micronutrients—is an effort to provide a life-saving shot to the

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Nov 2003

Globalising anger

Cancun joins Seattle as the venue of two failed ministerials of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since it came into existence on the first day of 1995. The WTO, whose

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Oct 2003

WTO and agriculture

The Great Trade Robbery and the neo-poor.

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Sep 2003

Feeding profits

Eliminating not hunger, but the hungry

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Jun 2003

A complicated and veiled system of tariffs allows Western countries to protect their tiny farming populations while millions of farmers in developing countries are swamped under a tide of cheap imports. Such systemic hypocrisy in international trade must be confronted for the sake of the global poor

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Mar 2003

The sustainability of hunger

On 4 December 2002, India's finance minister, Jaswant Singh, presented his government's mid-term review in parliament, emphasising a need to boost private investment in agriculture

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Feb 2003

Starvation amidst surplus

For predominantly agrarian societies, importing food is equivalent to importing unemployment. The Subcontinent needs to aspire to self-sufficiency through protecting its genetic inheritance and distributing the 'excess' foodgrain that curiously fails to reach those in need. It also needs to be wary

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Dec 2002

The great genetic scandal

Some years back, Oman made an unusual request to India. The oil-rich West Asian country was interested in acquiring four pure-bred animals of the Tharparkar cattle breed found

By Devinder Sharma

/ 1 Sep 2002