Action Aid in a new report has said that close to one billion people in the world are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. While the NGO has praised China and Brazil for successfully bringing down these numbers through community initiatives, India has been ranked low in the report. Brazil and China have been praised, but India criticised, in a new report that evaluates the efforts of developing countries to tackle...

Brazil and China have been praised for their efforts to tackle hunger, in a development charity's report released to coincide with UN World Food Day. But the ActionAid report criticises India and others countries for not doing enough to alleviate the problem. The agency also ranked rich countries, saying Luxembourg is trying hardest to end global hunger, while the US and New Zealand rank bottom. Studies estimate that one billion...

Concerted efforts have been made to give a new lease of life to the Doha Round of WTO negotiations. The question before us is: what is the most relevant role which this revived round of trade talks can play? If we take an overview of the entire international trade scene and the changes that have taken place ever since the WTO was created (including the negotiations which preceded the WTO’s...

Fairness in land acquisition is difficult to achieve A market’s charm, leaving out cases of distress sale, lies in the fact that it ensures for individuals the right to refuse unacceptable transactions. This observation, though pedestrian, has implications for the controversies surrounding the use of agricultural land for industrial growth in Bengal. Indeed, many — the present author included — have argued in favour of land acquisition through markets, for...

Erratic power supply, poverty bane of Marathwada region  About four lakh people migrate every year to work as sugarcane cutters Sugar factories contribute to water scarcity DHAITANA (Beed district): The Assembly elections are not the reason for excitement in this village located in the backward Marathwada region of Maharashtra. It’s water. In the afternoon heat, women and children are running towards the only source of water located outside sarpanch Achyut Gangane’s house....