-The Hindu Business Line The mythology of free trade being a force for economic progress remains entrenched in world politics Globalisation has created a unique spectator sport, where political dignitaries periodically gather at carefully chosen venues for days of deliberation over humanity’s most consequential problems. It is a spectacle at which ‘civil society’ — as the new force in world politics is called — is granted a tent of its own, financed...

-The Hindu For growth to go forward, it must be environmentally and socially concordant. The launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and agreements in Paris finally signalled the realisation that we can no longer achieve our economic ambitions by endangering the environment and society. But even as countries agreed on the need to nurture sustainability, it has come under fire from the mistaken notion that doing so will slow the pace...

-Hindustan Times Wheat, the country’s winter staple, has hit hurdles, with farmers unable to sow the normal area and instances of a dreaded fungus attack being reported from some parts of Punjab and Haryana, raising concerns of a lower output. Summer foodgrain output fell 1.7% at 124.05 million tonne, according to the government’s first of the four quarterly estimates due to a crippling back-to-back drought. This has hurt farm incomes, which support...

-SciDev.net Nearly half the children in India are stunted Maternal height is the strongest determinant of childhood undernutrition Investments should focus on improving social circumstance and dietary diversity BANGALORE: Nearly half the children in India suffer from stunting because mothers are uninformed, financially incapable or stunted and undernourished themselves, says a study conducted by the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston and published by Social Science and Medicine last month.   The highest...

-The Times of India/ The Economic Times Renowned geneticist and administrator M S Swaminathan is popularly known as the 'father of India's green revolution'. Speaking with Srijana Mitra Das, Swaminathan discussed why he fears the WTO Nairobi meet could exacerbate global food insecurity, double standards over farming protection between developed and developing nations, an Indian Single Market in grains - and how India, already suffering 'hidden' famine, must have freedom to...