The disastrous effect of the state throwing up its hands and retreating is most starkly visible in agriculture . Remember: agriculture involves 70 per cent of the country's population , generates about 56 per cent of national income, 64 per cent of total expenditure and about one third of total savings. So, any neglect translates into gigantic costs. And the central crisis in agriculture — production barely matching a depressed...

Concerned over large population still suffering from poverty and hunger, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said more efforts were required to achieve higher productivity and growth in the farm sector that would ensure food security to the people of this country. "I am happy that the growth rate of our agriculture has increased substantially in the last few years. But we are still far from achieving our goal. We...

Today, the Supreme Court of India will hear arguments in what is emerging as a national disgrace: One of the world’s largest stockpiles of foodgrain going to rot and rodent because the government lacks the vision, ability and commitment to either store it properly or distribute it to the poor. Let me recap what I reported on the front-page of this paper last month: About a third of India’s grain reserves,...

As the regulatory impasse continues after the sordid saga of the moratorium on Bt brinjal, another battle front has been opened by the anti-biotech activists demanding a complete withdrawal of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill. For them, they do not see anything good happening from any regulation that would facilitate safe deployment of modern biotech products. For them, “regulations” means “stop” or “kill” the technology. Anti-technology activists have...

Interdependence and knowledge-sharing are keys to global food security, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is the only legally binding treaty that promotes this, according to Xuan Li, Treaty Support Officer. Speaking to TheHindu on Monday, Ms. Xuan Li said 125 countries were signatories to the treaty that allowed access to the developments to individuals and corporations. The treaty provided access and benefit-sharing to 64 important...