Posts Tagged: India

Newsom veto plays into Hindu nationalist agenda

Image by Mameraman via Shuterstock

by ISHAQ SYED posted 11.13.2023

OPINION – Following decades of activist struggle, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have made our state the first to outlaw caste discrimination, an ancient form of ancestry-based social stratification endemic to South Asia but also unfortunately upheld by diasporic communities in California. In vetoing SB 403, Newsom has not only blocked vital protections for this marginalized community, but also played into the broader political agenda of a group of powerful Hindu nationalist organizations who drove opposition to the bill.

Amid climate change, a question: What’s the future of California rice?

A harvester in a drought-stricken field of northern California. (Photo: TFoxFoto, via Shutterstock)

by AARON GILBREATH posted 12.20.2022

Planted in spring, farmers drain their fields in August, and they drive big, loud harvesters into them in September, gently separating the rice stalks from the grain, and blowing the harvest into bankout wagons that they tow beside them. On average, each acre produces 8,000 pounds of rice, which is a greater yield than most of the world’s rice growing regions. But this September, 300,000 of California’s 550,000 acres of rice lay barren—over half the state’s rice crop.