The Generation Alpha Data Centre, at IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, conducted Public Policy Qualitative Participatory Action Research Fieldwork Fellowship- Cohort 2.0. An Online National Winter School Program. A Four-Month Online Immersive Qualitative Participatory Action Research Fieldwork Certificate Fellowship from December 2023 – April 2024
Spice Exporters Face Scrutiny: Ethylene Oxide Concerns Spark Recall in Asian Markets
Last April was a month when Indian spices exporters gained the limelight in Indian media for some unpleasant reasons. Countries like Hong Kong and Singapore have raised concerns over the safety of popular Indian spice products, leading to a recall of certain items. For example, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong conducted routine food surveillance and found that four products from renowned Indian brands MDH and Everest contained ethylene oxide, a pesticide deemed unsuitable for human consumption and classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Strengthening all economic parameters, holistic reforms, and focusing on demand and supply are sweeping platitudes, not policy.
Apart from distorting the Congress manifesto as a combination of impractical populism and pandering to Muslims, BJP campaigners have little to offer by way of constructive solutions to the economy’s problems of declining real wages in rural areas, massive unemployment among educated Indians and corporate India’s reluctance to invest, leaving the government to shoulder the burden of building infrastructure and other capital formation to generate growth.
On the fifth of August 2022, Ms Supriya Sule, Member of Parliament India of the 17th Lok Sabha, introduced a private members bill titled “The Protection of Rights of Widows and Single Women and Abolishment of Widowhood Practices Bill, 2022”. The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill held that an “ecosystem of neglect leads to millions of widows and single women being pushed into poverty, unable to guarantee a healthy life for themselves and their dependent children” and thus sought to safeguard the rights of widows and single women and to work towards a more equitable, accepting, and progressive society for them.
The ruling party is in election mode with daily pronouncements about how well the Indian economy is doing and benefitting not just the well-off but also the poor in the country. It has claimed a big reduction in poverty in India. It is stated that the Indian economy growing at about 7% is the fastest growing large economy in the world. Further, inflation is said to be tamed and employment generation robust, in spite of global head winds due to the Ukraine war and the pandemic.
It is claimed that India has weathered these global storms better than most rich countries, so, it has become `Vishwaguru’. The Presidency of G20 has been cited as evidence of India becoming a dominant player on the world stage. It is claimed that India’s stock in the world has gone up since it is getting respect from other countries and its stand on various world affairs like, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, is being appreciated. Another sign of good performance is stated to be the desire of major world corporations to invest in India.
Most observers felt that perhaps the only positive outcome of the ongoing war would be a real sincere effort to achieve the ‘two state solution’, but the consistent denial by Netanyahu to even consider it and the US vetoing the Palestine state’s recognition at the UNSC last week don’t augur well for this prospect in the near future.