Driving and walking through them, one sees abandoned terrace farms, overgrown with grasses and young trees, every now and then. I spoke to dozens of women, youngsters and men, asking them if what I was seeing made sense to them. These animals raid the farms so entirely and routinely that it’s not even possible to remain a subsistence farmer anymore. As people abandon agriculture in Uttarakhand, they flee to towns, even Delhi, looking for the jobs that are so hard to come by. (The writer is the founder and director Chintan Environmental Researchand Action Group)First Published: Jul 01, 2019 06:00 IST

Source: Hindustan Times July 01, 2019 00:33 UTC