-The United Nations Although global food prices have recently stabilized, they are expected to remain volatile over the next few years, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, as a ministerial meeting on global food prices kicked off in Rome. FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told the meeting, which coincided with the opening of the Committee on World Food Security, that this year's session was...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Assembly elections in Delhi will be held on December 4. The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced assembly polls in five states between November 11 and December 4, setting the ball rolling for what is set to be the semifinal between Congress and BJP before their big face-off in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are expected to witness virtually a straight...

-Outlook New Delhi: Food Minister K V Thomas today asked state governments to address three critical issues - identification of beneficiaries, creation of storage capacity and door-step delivery of foodgrains via PDS - for the successful implementation of the food security law. Addressing the state food ministers meet here, he called for greater coordination and cooperation between the centre and state governments to implement the law in 'true SPIRit'. The day-long meeting is...

-The Business Standard Panel member questioned the choice of sub-components There is some consolation for Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi: Not everyone in a panel headed by Reserve Bank of India Governor and former chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan had favoured the inclusion of Gujarat in the list of less developed states. Economist and social scientist Shaibal Gupta, a member of the panel, had dissented and...

-The Hindu Equating juveniles with adult criminals is neither scientifically correct nor normatively defensible The August 31 verdict of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in the Delhi gang rape case, handing down a bare three-year custodial sentence to the juvenile member, has generated a fresh round of debate on the legality and desirability of juvenile justice itself: why should juveniles above 16 indulging in violent crimes not be treated as adult criminals?...