-FAO FAO today forecast that 2012 world wheat production will be the second highest on record at 690 million tonnes and also announced that  international food prices rose one percent in February —  the second increase in two months.  Published today, FAO’s quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report forecast a 2012 wheat crop 10 million tonnes or 1.4 percent down from the record 2011 harvest but still well above the average...

Funding agency for rural NGOs may be on its last legs IT IS a government agency that was set up specially to fund non-profits working on rural development. But of late the Council for People’s Action and Advancement of Rural Technology (CAPART) has been plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency. After a few failed attempts to reform CAPART, the government has now decided to overhaul the agency which has close...

In a move that will give a big push to broadband penetration in the country, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has cleared an ambitious plan to distribute 50-lakh tablet PCs (personal computers) to students in the next financial year (2012-13). A note containing the nitty-gritty of the ambitious Aakash-2 project is likely to be placed before the Cabinet soon. “Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, who is also in charge of the Human...

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...

A tank to supply drinking water has been under construction in a tribal village in Adilabad for the last 10 years. It still remains incomplete. The healthcare system and basic infrastructural facilities such as drinking water and sanitation are in pathetic state in rural and tribal areas, leading to high infant and maternal mortality rates, though Rs Rs 1,130 crore had been allocated by the Centre as National Rural Health Mission...