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Policies and Laws - Agriculture

National action plan on climate change (NAPCC) and supporting mission documents (2008-11)

The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is a policy document prepared by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. It gives the direction which India needs to take, to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It has been prepared keeping in mind that India's economic need to tap its natural resources needs to be tempered with the need to maintain ecological balance.

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Groundwater bill - Andhra Pradesh - Third draft (2010)

This document includes the third draft of the Groundwater Bill for Andhra Pradesh and is divided into the following chapters:

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Guidelines for water quality management and monitoring - Central Pollution Control Board (2008)

The documents titled 'Guidelines for water quality management' and 'Guidelines for water quality monitoring' are published by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2008, under the guidance of the Water Quality Assessment Authority formed under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Read More


Alternative national water policy - A critique - Economic and Political Weekly

This article published in the discussion section of the Economic and Political Weekly is a critique of the National Water Policy: An alternative draft for consideration, proposed by Ramaswamy Iyer, published in the Economic and Political Weekly, June 25th 2011.

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Faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth – An approach to the twelfth five year plan – Draft report by Planning Commission

This draft report by the Planning Commission, which presents an approach to the twelfth five year plan among other things outlines some of the challenges related to agriculture, natural resources management and water resources management. The concerns related to water resources management discussed at length in the report have been summarized below -

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Sustainable Development Framework for the mining sector in India – A report by the Ministry of Mines

MINEThis report by the Ministry of Mines presents the draft Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) for the mining sector in India in light of the recommendations of the Anwarul Hoda Committee, a High Level Committee set up by the Planning Commission in 2005. The draft SDF prepared by ERM India Pvt. Ltd. for the Ministry of Mines was released recently for seeking public comments before its formal adoption. It presents a set of guiding principles for the mining sector in India, which aims at achieving resource efficiency, business viability and environment stewardship around development of affected communities.

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Draft National Food Security Bill approved by the National Advisory Council

Food Security

The proposed National Food Security Bill aims to provide every person with physical, economic and social access, at all times, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate, sufficient and safe food, which ensures an active and healthy life. The issues related to the Draft National Food Security Bill approved by the National Advisory Council (NAC) were taken up for discussion by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) in their meeting on 11th July, 2011 which approved it. The Bill has to be now ratified by the parliament where it is proposed to be introduced in December 2011 to become law. It would need about 61 million tonnes of grains a year, the bulk of which would be wheat and rice.

The EGoM tried to settle the differences between the views of the NAC and the Food Ministry on the contours of the legislation such as on coverage under the Bill, method to be adopted to ensure food security, amount of food grain required and the implication of the Act on the food subsidy ‘burden’. While the NAC had preferred legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrain for 90 per cent of rural population and 50 per cent of urban population, the Food Ministry was interested in lowering of the legal coverage for rural families. The Bill is now with the Law Ministry.

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The Karnataka groundwater (regulation and control of development and management) bill (2009)

This document from the Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Karnataka site is a bill to regulate, and control the development and management of groundwater and matters connected therewith. The document is divided into the following chapters: Read More


Women at the center of climate friendly approaches to agriculture and water use - A report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

IATPThis report by Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy identifies three principles and two sets of policy-level interventions necessary to enhance water and food security for marginalised communities by drawing on the experiences of the Tamilnadu Women’s Collective (WC), a state-level federation of women’s groups from 1,500 villages, in the context where communities all around the world are struggling to find ways to cope with changes affecting food and water security because of the phenomenon of climate change.

The report argues that many a times, new food and water security policies at the national and international level tend to be narrow, look at each of these issues in isolation and  undermine food and water security strategies adopted by individuals and households from marginal groups. Adaptation strategies to address food security focus almost exclusively on increasing agricultural production, while ignoring health and cultural aspects of the food being produced, and the role of agriculture as a means for rural viability.

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Arghyam

6.22-2011.07.01-06