Energy Subsidies in India

On March 26-28, 2007, The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) and the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI) organized a Media Forum in Mumbai, India. The forum, which brought together 25 journalists from across India, took as its focus the role of subsidies in contributing to the agrarian crisis in India, with particular reference to the suicides of farmers.

An expert group convened to analyze groundwater management and ownership in India has criticized subsidy programs for contributing to rapidly falling water tables in many areas of the country.   Landholders in India are free to extract water that runs below their property.

A forthcoming report from the International Food Policy Research Institute analyzes protection to the agricultural sector in India, Indonesia, China and Vietnam.

Jaideep Hardikar, an Indian journalist with Daily News and Analysis (DNA), spends much of his time in rural Vidarbha, in the state of Maharashtra, where it is estimated that on average a farmer commits suicide every eight hours. It his job to document this disturbing symptom of what has become widely known as India's "agrarian crisis", but also to uncover the underlying root causes.

If the United States cut ethanol tariffs and subsidies, prices would drop in the US as imports rise dramatically, according to a new report by Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD).

Asian governments are caught between an ever-increasing demand for cheap energy to fuel development and an unabating rise in global oil prices. A few South-east Asian governments are feeling the financial pain of costly fuel subsidies and are looking elsewhere for energy sources. The hunt for alternative energy sources has led Asian nations to explore biofuel technology, among others.