During my fieldwork in Tonk district of Rajasthan, a Dalit family once narrated a ‘miracle’ to me. In 2002, they faced a drought as bad as the chhappani akaal of 1900-02. But at the end of 2002, the Dalit family was pleasantly surprised: they still had some foodgrain left. This, the family members said, was a result of the good relief work done by the Ashok Gehlot government. Similar proactive State...
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Wheat rises, food shares fall on Russia export ban
Wheat prices surged to a two-year high while shares in European brewers and food producers fell on Friday as markets reacted to the sudden imposition of a ban on grain exports from drought-hit Russia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin moved decisively on Thursday to halt exports of grain and flour from August 15 to the end of the year and the country’s railroad monopoly said on Friday it will stop loading...
More »Plan panel push for war on Naxals by Chetan Chauhan
The Planning Commission on Thursday approved Rs 14,000 crore for 60 Naxal-affected districts on the condition that states would have to undertake governance reforms and improve the performance of existing flagship programmes. The decision comes two days before Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh and Tribal Affairs Minister Kanti Lal Bhuria discuss development issues with officers of the rebel-hit districts. The money in the Integrated Action Plan...
More »RTI activists facing threat, admits govt by Mayank Aggarwal
The Centre admitted on Thursday that people trying to expose corruption with the help of the Right to Information (RTI) Act were facing harassment. In response to a query whether the government knew about increasing threats to people using RTI against corruption, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office (PMO), Prithviraj Chavan, told parliament, “Yes, reports have appeared in the media about the threats. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has...
More »Wheat prices soar as Russia suspends exports by G Chandrashekhar
Russia has announced a temporary ban on wheat exports. This is of course not entirely unanticipated. Today, soon after the Russian Prime Minister reportedly announced a temporary grain export ban, prices were seen rising further. Drought conditions have threatened Russian wheat harvest. From record 63.7 million tonnes in 2008-09, wheat production declined by two million tonnes the following year. Drought is now threatening to pull output down to around 50 mt. Russia's wheat exports...
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