Bonjour, new guests from small-town India
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Ramesh Barap and other farmers in Palghar are not much aware of climate change and any effort by the government to mitigate it. Nature’s vagaries are frequent now, and there is a cycle of unseasonal rains and droughts, they say. Like other parts of the State, farmers here have to knock at the government’s doors to get compensation for crops damaged in natural disasters. While some get help others are left high and dry.
Maharashtra farmers are not an exception. Only 1.7 per cent of climate finance — a fraction of what is needed — goes to small-scale farmers in developing countries despite their disproportionate vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, according to a recent report released by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI).
The report adds that small-scale agriculturists encounter a number of challenges in accessing the funds they need.
According to the report, India’s governmental support for agriculture was estimated in the early 2010s at $85 billion per year, of which only around $3 billion directed to the soil, water conservation, forestry, and wildlife.
“Farming is becoming more and more difficult for small farmers like me. Uncertainty prevails all the time and we don’t know when it will rain and when there will be drought. Climate change or nature’s wrath, whatever it is, it affects small and poor farmers,” says Shrikant Belekar, a farmer from Nipani in Karnataka.
There are around 21.6 crore small and marginal farmers (or 4.3 crore families) who actually are reeling under distress due to cycles of unseasonal rains and droughts.
The “Assessment of Climate Change over Indian Region” report published by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) mentions that since the middle of the twentieth century, India has witnessed a rise in average temperature; a decrease in monsoon precipitation; a rise in extreme temperature and rainfall events, droughts, and sea levels; and an increase in the intensity of severe cyclones, alongside other changes in the monsoon system.
According to the Ministry of Environment, “India’s action on climate change is guided by the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which is operationalised through eight missions each having its own budget and action plan. Hence, a separate fund for climate action has not been found to be necessary”.
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
Citroen’s first vehicle sports a novel design and European interiors. It is also meant to be as comfortable as ...
The pandemic is only the tip of the iceberg that the country’s cash-poor airlines — both regional and national ...
The government is yet to specify the framework of its recently announced old vehicle scrappage policy
This Women’s Day, we discuss the features of a few financial products that aim to help you save, get insured ...
Sensex, Nifty 50 make a strong bounce-back, but test resistances
Avenue Supermarts (₹3,286.1): Makes fresh all-time highIn October last year, the stock of Avenue Supermarts ...
The exchange-traded fund ticks all boxes as an efficient tool to track gold prices
A cop, a poet, a wedding planner, an outraged wife: On International Women’s Day, a look at diverse stories ...
India’s privacy law must balance the rights of children with online safety
Muriel has put our names down on a list to get the Covid-19 vaccination because — hurrah! — the age limit has ...
They are the health warriors who battled the Covid-19 pandemic on the ground, and are now the face of the ...
Comfort, convenience, value, safety — and not necessarily the colour pink — but do brands deliver?
Why and how marketers have used camels, and left us thirsting for more
Start-up SALT wants to break feminine stereotypes around money, and is asking women to reassert agency
It’s that time of year again when brands suddenly start paying obeisance to women power. From sentimental to ...
Three years after its inception, compliance with GST procedures remains a headache for exporters, job workers ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies are altering the prospects for wooden toys of ...
Aequs Aerospace to create space for large-scale manufacture of toys at Koppal
And it has every reason to smile. Covid-19 has triggered a consumer shift towards branded products as ...
Please Email the Editor