The fertiliser sector in India has been through difficult times in recent years. Stagnant production, no fresh investment and poor financial health of the units were accompanied by high level of Import, imbalanced use of nutrients and deteriorating soil health. Mounting subsidy bill posed a serious fiscal management problem to the government. Industry has been pursuing with the government for appropriate reforms to ensure health and growth for both the...

In a rare recognition, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has acknowledged the role of low-cost, green toilet technology developed by Indian NGO Sulabh International in achieving United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. ASCE has said that Sulabh's indigenous technology will not only help in tackling the issue of global warming but also improve community health, hygiene and environment in the developing world. According to Sulabh's founder Bindeshwar Pathak, who visited...

Not so long ago, the prospect of a global sugar shortage gave food manufacturers a panic attack. Poor weather conditions hitting crops in the world's two biggest sugar-producing nations, Brazil and India, sent the price of the sweet stuff soaring on international markets. In August last year, US firms such as Kraft Food, General Mills and chocolate-maker Hershey were so worried that they wrote a joint letter to the country's...

The National Food Security Bill, 2010 that aims to provide subsidised foodgrain to the very poor is welcome, but its definition of ‘food security’ is too narrow. The Rome declaration on World Food Security (at the World Food Summit in 1996) states that “we, the heads of state and government ... reaffirm the right of everyone to have (physical and economic) access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the...

Various ways and means of checking irregularities in the implementation of rural employment guarantee scheme have been discussed. One suggestion is that workers employed under this scheme ought to be organised. The first step in this direction was the formation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Workers' Union - Gujarat (NREGWUG), which was followed by other similar efforts in Rajasthan, parts of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. Paulomee Mistry , general secretary...