-The Hindu The government deserves congratulations for its firm stand at the WTO, which finds support in Rodrik's trilemma The Princeton don Dani Rodrik is one of the world's leading economists. He is a firm believer in and supporter of globalisation. However, he has also posed a famous "globalisation trilemma." A trilemma describes a situation where only two of three things can hold true at the same time. If any two out...

-The Financial Express World Bank's latest data suggests realisation of millenium development goals may not be far off. Reduction of poverty and hence, how it is measured, has long been a contentious political economy issue in India. There is general discomfort every time the headcount ratio of the number of poor, based upon an accepted methodology recommended by an expert committee, declines; this then triggers a process to revisit known issues by...

-Business World   The WTO Bali deal is ultimately a battle between food for the poor and trade for the rich The current global uproar at India's refusal to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the WTO Bali Declaration is a classic example of how meticulously orchestrated media hype and misdirected "expert opinions" attempt to pressurise developing countries into submission at global negotiations. India's primary interest is the food security proposal for ensuring...

-The Pioneer The Government must establish research & development and innovation centres at the village level, which can be instrumental in evolving solutions for the actual problems being faced on day-to-day basis by the farming community The agriculture sector today faces multiple problems, thanks to insufficient rainfall, falling crop productivity and failures coupled with low profitability. Climate change, air pollution, frequent droughts and other adversities have brought the farmers to their knees,...

-The Business Standard In its effort to safeguard the rights of its poor by blocking the World Trade Organization's (WTO's) trade facilitation agreement (TFA), India might lose out on securing a deal on food security, including the much-needed 'Peace Clause' agreed on during WTO's Ninth Ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia. WTO members have threatened that if the so-called Bali package gets derailed, every single issue that was negotiated and on which a...