Social protection has seen a sharp focus in the development policy agenda during the past decade. There is also a clear trend for making social protection, as well as food security, “rights-based”, rather than “discretionary”. Yet, no clear consensus has so far emerged concerning many basic design choices and implementation modalities. The Food Security Act 2011, which is now under the consideration of our parliament, is designed to achieve the...

-The Hindu States told to have contingency plans ready, post-delay in onset in Kerala   Agriculture experts and officials are closely monitoring the advance of the southwest monsoon, which is crucial not only for the important summer kharif crop but also the socio-economic wellbeing of the country. There are apprehensions that with farm growth having slowed down in the pre-wheat harvest quarter to 1.7 per cent, if the monsoon were to be deficient, then...

A delay in the onset of monsoon by 3-4 days over the Kerala coast won’t jeopardise India’s farm prospects in the crop year starting June 1 as sowing usually picks up with the arrival of the seasonal showers, according to outgoing agriculture secretary P K Basu. In an interview, Basu told FE that the rainfall in June, however, holds the key. ‘‘If there are scanty showers in June, sowing may be...

-The Business Standard Planning for deficient monsoon must begin Now that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has endorsed the fears expressed earlier by foreign weather bureaux about the emergence of the monsoon-unfriendly El Nino in the second half of the season, the government should begin preparing right away for mitigating its adverse impacts on agriculture, water reservoirs and other areas. El Nino, an anomalous rise in sea surface temperature off the...

-FAO On the path to Rio+20, FAO calls for a future with both healthier people and healthier ecosystems Sustainable development cannot be realized unless hunger and malnutrition are eradicated, FAO said in a policy document prepared for the Rio+20 Summit to be held in June in Rio de Janeiro. "We cannot call development sustainable while this situation persists, while nearly one out of every seven men, women and children are left behind, victims...