Rural women promote organic products
To encourage women farmers and entrepreneurs in the country, Ministry of Women and Child Development has for the second consecutive year organised the Women of India Festival 2016: Organic Products at Dilli Haat in the national capital. The festival, which will conclude on Sunday, has assembled over 400 rural women from across the country to sell products ranging from fabrics, foodstuff and furniture to wellness, personal care and solar equipment.
The main purpose of the event, according to the organisers, is to promote women entrepreneurship to energise the economy of local communities and to help create job opportunities. “Besides, the festival also intends to highlight the health and environmental advantages of organic goods, provide a platform for women engaged in it and boost the development of sustainable and easily accessible sales outlets for producers of organic products from remote corners of the country,” said a joint secretary in the ministry, who is in charge of the festival.
Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi explained the importance of organic products: “Organic foods have been proven to contain far more vitamins, minerals and nutrients than similar foods produced with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives. Organic farming relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and natural methods of pest control… With the affordability factor coming into organic produce, we are making a concerted effort to make this alternative a popularly used one to avoid diseases due to chemical use among our people.” It took the family of Aakash Kumar over a month to get an FIR filed after he was found dead on the train tracks between Anand Vihar in Delhi and Chandar Nagar in Ghaziabad on 12 September, in a case that brings out the gross negligence on the part of the Ghaziabad police. The police maintained throughout that Aakash’s death was caused by a train accident, despite being provided with evidence to the contrary by the family members of the deceased. It could be a coincidence that the police filed a complaint only after they realised that the family had approached the media and when The Sunday Guardian started calling various officers for information about the case.
Aakash Kumar, son of Lakhmi Chand, a milkman, who stays in Maharajpur in Ghaziabad, was found dead after his parents had been allegedly threatened by Jitu on the evening of 11 September. Jitu was an acquaintance of Aakash. “It was after 9.30 pm, we usually sit outside in the lane after dinner. Jitu