Maharashtra teeters on the brink while Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, two key states contributing significantly to grain production, have already declared a drought, potentially exacerbating agrarian distress and adversely impacting Food prices. Supply of pulses, sugarcane, oilseeds, soyabean and coarse grain such as bajra and jowar, is likely to be hit, with production in the rabi season, or the winter harvest, set to decline between 25% and more than 40%, compared...

-The Indian Express   Even as the UPA’s effort to introduce 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail fell on its face, the proposal to allow 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail is through. Just before the finance minister goes to the US to speak to investors, this decision is something of a face saver. The department of industrial policy and promotion formally announced the decision, with the condition that in...

Manmohan calls new report's findings a ‘national shame’ A new study based on a survey of the height and weight of more than one lakh children across six States has found that as many as 42 per cent of under-fives are severely or moderately underweight and that 59 per cent of them suffer from moderate to severe stunting, meaning their height is much lower than the median height-for-age of the reference...

Even wealthy children show signs of poor nutrition in some Indian states, according to a new report on child malnutrition from a non-government organisation released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today. The report, based on a survey across 100 districts in six states with poor child development indicators, has shown that child malnutrition is widespread — 42 per cent of children under five years of age are underweight, and 59 per...

He was killed on Sunday for not returning Rs. 5,000 at his residence A day after 32-year-old Dalit sugarcane labourer Shahadev Tayad succumbed to burns, the accused Vashisht Dhake who allegedly burnt him was caught by the police on Monday, but the Tayad's family's efforts to come to terms with the loss have just begun. According to the police, Dhake burnt Tayad on January 8 for not returning Rs. 5,000 at his...