-The Indian Express   Banning cotton exports hurts the farmer, signals India as an unpredictable supplier to the world Two days after the commerce ministry imposed a sudden ban on cotton exports, there are indications the government is preparing grounds for a facesaver. In all likelihood, a limited window may be opened at least for allowing exports for which registration certificates have already been issued by the Directorate General for Foreign Trade. Finance...

The disaster in Japan revealed many risks that were earlier unknown; it is important to assess the risks in India in a transparent manner and explain which are worth taking. The nuclear plant accident at Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011 exemplifies the prescient remark of nuclear reactor pioneer, the late Alvin Weinberg, that “a nuclear accident somewhere is a nuclear accident everywhere.” After Fukushima, many countries initiated a reconsideration of the...

The US has dragged India to the World Trade Organization for banning poultry products in alleged violation of trade rules, but Indian officials say the country is ready to defend its measures in the formal consultations expected to begin soon.  India claims that the import ban is aimed at preventing avian influenza, but it has not given scientific evidence in line with international standards on avian-influenza control, US Trade Representative Ron...

-The Economic Times Small and marginal farmers who constitute more than 80% of total farmer households in the country face exclusion from formal financial channels," says the Nair Committee on priority sector lending. The same report says "commercial banks have been prescribed targets since late 1960s for priority sector lending".  The banking system failed the farmers and the needy despite nationalisation, but is there a viable model that could help the millions...

-Reuters The United States on Tuesday began action at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to open India's market for poultry meant and eggs, saying an Indian ban on US imports intended to stop the spread of bird flu was not based on sound science. "The United States is the world's leader in agricultural safety and we are confident that the WTO will confirm that India's ban is unjustified," US Trade Representative Ron...