A solution to the pulses and edible oils crisis is entirely within reach. The state of India’s food security is worsening by the year. The cost of food items is increasing rapidly, making them unaffordable to a majority of the people. Added to these woes is the short supply of pulses and edible oils, which forces the Central government to import them. Pulses play a critical role in the diet of...
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Consensus eludes climate talks by Priscilla Jebaraj
On a day of long speeches in the plenary and loud protests outside, the Danish president of the UN climate talks here told developing countries that progress on the Kyoto Protocol is unlikely here. There may not be any post-2012 commitment of emission cuts by rich nations under the Protocol coming out of Copenhagen. Outside, protesters and police scuffled as an attempt to break through the barricades of the Bella Centre,...
More »Look East policy comes of age by Sanjaya Baru
The Indo-Asean FTA provides an opportunity to be more engaged with the region This is an important week for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Over the weekend, at the Fourth East Asia Summit in Thailand, he will witness the final fruition of the second most important foreign policy initiative he took during his first term in office — the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement. This should ensure he will be in better...
More »The iniquitous perils of the free trade pact
This is a statement sent in by V.R. Krishna Iyer, a former Judge of the Supreme Court, who is based in Kochi: Some of the provisions of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that India recently signed with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will weaken India’s, and specifically Kerala’s, rubber sector because Malaysia and a few other countries that are a part of the ASEAN will flood the...
More »Fishermen, farmers to protest free-trade agreement
TNN/ MANGALORE: Many fishermen and farmers’ organizations in Mangalore have taken umbrage at a move by the Union government to sign a free-trade agreement with Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The organizations - Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), National Fish Workers Forum, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Karnataka Karavali Sampradayika Nadadoni Meenugarara Okkoota - will register their protest on October 2. K Yadav Shetty, general secretary, KPRS, said on...
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