“Governments and international agencies urgently need to boost ecological farming techniques to increase food production and save the climate,” said UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, while presenting the findings at an international meeting on agroecology held in Brussels on 21 and 22 June. Along with 25 of the world’s most renowned experts on agroecology, the UN expert urged the international community to re-think current agricultural...

India should be able to lift the ban on non-basmati rice imports this year as a bumper crop is expected due to a positive outlook on monsoon rain, traders said on Tuesday. India, the world’s second largest exporter of rice after Thailand banned exports of non-basmati rice in 2008, as high prices of the grain put pressure on domestic supply. “India should come online this year as the harvest is expected to...

India's food inflation accelerated in mid-June, maintaining pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to tighten monetary policy at a faster pace. India's food price index rose 16.90 per cent in the year to June 12, higher than the previous week's annual reading of 16.12 per cent, government data released on Thursday showed. The fuel price index remained unchanged at 13.18 percent in the year to June 12. The yield...

Last year may have been a cruel year for much of the country with slow growth and double-digit food inflation, but India's high net worth individuals (HNWIs) prospered — just over 120,000 in number, or 0.01% of the population, their combined worth is close to one-third of India's Gross National Income (GNI). HNWIs, in this context, are defined as those having investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding primary...

The human resource development ministry has tweaked eligibility rules for its college and university scholarship programme for poor students to help those from school boards that are stingy with marks. The change, first mooted soon after Kapil Sibal took over the ministry, will come into effect from the coming academic session itself, government officials said today. Students who score over 80 per cent in their Class XII qualifying examinations are...