Money makes news. When it is found, promiscuously. And when it is lost, presumptively. And when it is found to lie hidden. Also when it stands brazenly, as in election candidatures. Does hunger, to satisfy which money, income, wages — the power to purchase food — are needed, make news? Does the crisis in our agriculture make news? When Amartya Sen speaks of hunger and malnutrition, when MS Swaminathan does so...

Agriculture department confirms high pesticide residues THE country’s regulators have failed to check the flow of pesticides into the food chain, suggests a monitoring report of the Department of Agriculture and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, the country’s premier institute. Fruits, vegetables, poultry and milk are all laced with high pesticide residues —much above the maximum residue limits (MRL) set by the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954. Samples of...

It pays to keep away from private-public partnerships, especially if you plan to ‘only’ create awareness on a topic that complements the business you are in. Last week, foods giant Nestle was probably chewing hard on this thought. The company found itself in an uneasy position in India, when  it received unfavourable media coverage for a nutrition-awareness programme that Nestle India had launched in schools in association with Universities such...

Former Army chief General Deepak Kapoor, now in the dock over the Adarsh housing scam besides a series of other defence land scams, has been denied an honorary doctorate that a Central government-run university wanted to confer on him. A Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Indian Express has revealed that while the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) had submitted a proposal seeking to confer an honorary doctorate...

Even as the Centre is mulling over allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, Union Agriculture and Food Processing Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday categorically ruled out the possibility of FDI in farming. “FDI in agriculture is not required. We have about 82-86 per cent farmers whose land-holding is below two hectares. In this type of a situation where the land-holding is small, we should not think of encouraging...