Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the Supreme Court commissioners on the right to food, is up in arms against the National Food Security Bill. “Despite multiple meetings and many suggestions put forward, what we have is a mockery of a bill. The government has made a dog’s breakfast out of the right to food bill,” he exclaims. Patnaik’s is not a one-off complaint. Some argue that the country’s law-making process is...

-IANS   The European Union (EU) has registered India's Darjeeling tea as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), that seek to protect product names from misuse and imitation. It is the seventh non-EU product receiving the protected status, following one from Colombia and five from China, the EuAsiaNews reported. Darjeeling tea has been added to over 1,000 names of agricultural products and foodstuffs protected as PGI in the EU, the European Commission, the EU's executive...

-The United Nations   The United Nations independent expert on the right to food cautioned today that smallholder farmers face the risk of exploitation under contract farming arrangements with processing or marketing companies, and recommended mechanisms that could ensure that such agreements are fairer. “Contract farming for its benefits, which I am not denying, nevertheless locks farmers into one segment of the food chain,” said Olivier De Schutter, the Special Rapporteur on the...

-The Times of India   Ahead of elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the government on Tuesday announced an increase of up to 39% in the support price for farm goods in what is being billed as a Diwali gift for farmers. But the move has raised fears of a further spike in food inflation, which crossed the 10% mark last week. While the smallest increase was in case of wheat, where the...

The UPA is pressing ahead with the National Food Security Bill for the Cabinet despite agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's public criticism of UPA's flagship programme. The first draft, which was put up for public consultation including inputs from state governments, is being revised to reflect the political priorities of the Congress. Even as the government gives final shape to the bill it will take to the Cabinet, the debate within the government...