The recession is a promising moment to expand NREGA with greater emphasis on building social capital in a big way.  Soon after assuming office, the first UPA government took an impressive step for the alleviation of rural poverty by launching the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It was, indeed, a wise move to insulate the programme from the vicissitudes of electoral politics by enacting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...

Government may cut the import duty on rice, says official  Paddy and sugarcane production may be lower owing to the floods Agriculture Commissioners of affected States assessing the situation Crucial paddy, onion, sugarcane, and horticulture crops have been lost in the floods in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, though the quantum of loss is being assessed. Paddy and edible oil crops have already been affected by the drought in the northern States,...

आंध्रप्रदेश, कर्नाटक और महाराष्ट्र में जारी बाढ़ से लाखों की तादाद में ग्रामीण गरीबी रेखा से नीचे आ गए हैं। बाढ़ की विभीषिका तो थमने का नाम नहीं ले रही है लेकिन इस विभीषिका से, गरीबी रेखा से नीचे रहने वाले परिवारों की गणना के लिए जो मानक प्रस्तावित भोजन का अधिकार विधेयक के संकल्प पत्र में सुझाये गए हैं, उनकी पोल जरुर खुल गई है। अकेले आंध्रप्रदेश और कर्नाटक...

Age was no deterrent to his passion and determination. Till he lost to cancer on September 12, Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug relentlessly fought his arch enemy, the rust fungus, which had engaged him since he first landed in Mexico in 1944 to breed shorter, straighter, stronger wheat which were to liberate the world from hunger over next decades. His brilliance of pulling India out of ‘ship-to-mouth’ existence is well known....

NEW DELHI: floods that have ravaged parts of southern and western India is likely to hit the grain production in the country, leading to higher prices of essential commodities such as rice, pulses, jowar, bajra and certain category of vegetables. While the extent of the damage caused by the sudden burst of floods in Karnataka, Andhra, Maharashtra and Goa is yet to be assessed, the governments at the Centre and...