India should look at Latin American countries to keep its food security intact. With little or no investment in the agriculture sector,it is estimated that 45% of Indian farmers want to quit farming—supply-side constraints have been a major causeforconcern. Add to that rapidly falling water tables in North India – India’s bread basket, and erratic monsoons from climate change leading to domestic food output falling short of demand, repeatedlyinthefuture. Talking...

More thought needs to be given to the kind of data generated and its practical implications.  Yesterday when the census enumerator visited, I asked him how he felt about the current debate on counting caste in the census: “Not comfortable at all”, he said, “I don't even like asking whether someone is SC/ST or Other, leave alone what their caste is.” But, he added, “caste is an inescapable reality of...

Though Mother's Day is celebrated across the world to honour mothers and motherhood, a number of women (mothers) in rural areas and urban slums are bound to face hardships and neglect. Even after decades of independence, rural women continue to be in a state of neglect in Naugarh block of Chandauli district. Gender bias, lack of education, excessive responsibility, lack of recognition, conservative attitude of society and lack of awareness...

IF DISRUPTIONS over phone tapping and the India Premier League controversy had not taken Parliament sessions hostage, the Rajya Sabha may have passed the controversial Seeds Bill in the week of April 26, when it was slated to come up for discussion. The government was keen to give this Bill the force of law as soon as possible because the seed industry wants it. The Seeds Bill originally proposed in 2004...

The earnings of India’s rural households increased by 45% in two years, thanks to the Union government’s flagship job guarantee scheme, says the rural development ministry, which oversees the scheme. The ministry says the figures are based on an independent study it had commissioned, but experts claim the scheme hasn’t been as successful on the ground as the study suggests. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA, promises at...