Mancombu Subramani

The Supreme Court has set aside a Madras High Court ruling dismissing a petition filed by the Madhya Pradesh government to provide a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Basmati rice grown in 13 districts of the State. While setting aside the High Court's February 27, 2020 ruling, the Supreme Court has asked it to reconsider the Madhya Pradesh government's plea.

Four years ago, a few farmers died due to accidental inhalation of pesticides while spraying on their crops in Maharashtra. Most of them hailed from the Yavatmal district. Police records obtained under the Rights to Information Act revealed that 22 farmers lost their lives that year and over 300 were affected by pesticide poisoning.

Even as India is exporting its surplus stocks of sugar and wheat to countries in the Indian Ocean region, Pakistan, its neighbour, is spending huge sums to import them from other countries. A fortnight ago, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Pakistan Cabinet approved the import of 1.1 lakh tonnes (lt) of wheat at $355.9 (₹26,000) a tonne and two lakh tonnes of white sugar at $657 (₹48,000) a tonne.