-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Within a fortnight, you may be able to pick up a cooking gas refill from petrol pumps owned and operated by state-run oil companies in the four metros and big cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad. Oil minister M Veerappa Moily on Tuesday approved the proposal allowing sale of 5-kg cylinders at commercial rate. The cost of the small refill will be Rs 361, oil company...

Adding to the debate over celebrity economists blaming India’s malnutrition and stunting vis-à-vis Sub Saharan Africa on genetic differences, Dean Spears, a public health expert and a visiting fellow at Delhi School of Economics, offers evidence connecting our poor sanitation and open defecation with high morbidity and malnutrition. (see both links below). In an evidence-based paper titled Policy Lessons from Implementing India’s Total Sanitation Campaign (2012), based on the review...

-Outlook Growth vs development, Bhagwati vs Sen. Both are right, say experts. *** "Can I not talk about Bhagwati, please? I don't like talking about Bhagwati. He loves talking about me, I do not like talking about him." -Amartya Sen, Telegraph "You must ask Professor Sen, not me, why he will not engage in a debate with me.... After all, he is...

-Reuters Raipur/Patna: The deaths of at least 23 children who were poisoned after eating a free school meal has triggered an outcry over food safety just as the ruling Congress party is set to launch an ambitious plan to feed 800 million poor, with an eye on elections due within a year. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi‘s national subsidised food project includes free school meals and expands existing handouts to make it probably...

-Grist Media The proposed Food Security Bill will likely raise the demand for dal across India. While farmers and consumers are against it, the government keeps favouring the agri-industry and importing more and more cheap versions to offset rising inflation. But why won't India produce its own dal anymore? Nowhere are Canada's agricultural production plans tracked more closely than in India's Ministry of Food & Consumer Affairs. As it struggles to meet...