These days, Jhum cultivation also known as ‘slash and burn method of cultivation’, ‘shifting cultivation’ etc has been under continuous scanner for its productivity and ecological viability. This form of cultivation is followed widely in almost all the North Eastern States including the hill areas of Manipur. There are those who consider jhum cultivation as unproductive and ecologically disastrous so that people (understood as tribal people of the hill areas)...
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Mere membership of banned outfit won't attract criminal action: court by J Venkatesan
Be wary of torture-induced confessions before police Mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence, the Supreme Court held on Thursday. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra gave this ruling, setting aside a designated court judgment which convicted Arup Bhuyan under Section 3 (5)...
More »PM’s panel splits hairs, misses the elephants on food security by Biraj Patnaik
The report of the Rangarajan Committee scrutinizing proposals of the National Advisory Council for the National Food Security Bill makes for a very instructive read. It's official now: UPA II is on a death wish, and it could not have been articulated better. The alacrity with which the prime minister set up this committee (remember, he could not find time in three years to convene the nutrition council he chairs)...
More »It’s the fisc
While monetary policy is an important element of the artillery against inflation — and with the 25 basis point hike, the RBI did part of what it was expected to do to tighten policy — there is the fiscal task too. As Raghuram Rajan, adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, points out, the Centre must control expenditure, cut subsidies and not start new spending programmes. Fiscal deficits are large and rising...
More »Global food prices rise to new highs, not expected to fall in coming months – UN
Food prices around the world surged to a new historic peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today, adding that the prices are not likely to decline in the months ahead. According to the FAO, its latest Food Price Index, a commodity basket that tracks monthly changes in global food prices, averaged 231 points in January and was up 3.4 per...
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