FEW rural pleasures match seeing a golden field of grain, rustling and ripe for reaping. But the harvest season in the northern hemisphere is being marked by turmoil on global wheat markets. A big reason is to be found in one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, Russia. Hit by fires and drought which have wiped out a third of the grain crop, the authorities there have banned exports, first temporarily...

The Supreme Court tells the government: "It's criminal to let food rot in a chronically hungry country. Give it away free to the poor." It could have added: "Have you no political sense? Have you not read Anandamath, or at least seen the movie?" And Manmohan Singh ticks it off for transgressing on policymaking — doesn't it know there's no such thing as a free lunch? He could have added:...

Underlining that acquisition of land was necessary for new industry and infrastructure, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today said care should be taken to ensure this does not result in loss of fertile, productive tracts. “New industry and new infrastructure cannot be built without acquiring land. This is obvious. But land acquisition must be done in a manner that does not result in the loss of large tracts of fertile and productive...

Dow Chemical, which bought the Bhopal disaster-tainted Union Carbide, will abandon a proposed research hub in Pune and return the land because of protests by an influential sect which fears pollution of a revered river. Dow India, an arm of the US giant, will return the 100 acres to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the state government entity yesterday told Bombay High Court where a suit against the project has...

The Uttar Pradesh government today scrapped the project for a township near Aligarh and Chief Minister Mayawati unveiled a new policy for rehabilitation of farmers, saying her “government and party were totally against forceful acquisition of farmers’ land”. Under the new policy, there will be provision of annuity for 33 years to a farmer whose land is acquired. This will be in addition to the compensation for the acquired land. The...