-Livemint.com This preference for spending on religious services than sanitation extends across income and spatial divides Cleanliness is next to godliness—or so we are told. In India, cleanliness actually ranks several notches below godliness on the priority list. A recent report by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) shows that Indians are willing to spend more on religious services than on sanitation, irrespective of spatial and income divide. The survey, findings of which...
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Feeling the pulses pinch -Ramesh Chand & Shambhavi Sharan
-The Hindu As cereal consumption comes down despite higher output, India needs to ramp up production of pulses to meet the nutritional requirements of the population. Since the onset of the Green Revolution in the late 1960s, India has been treading on a path towards self-sufficiency in food. The achievements have remained highly skewed towards wheat and rice on account of technological as well as policy support towards these two crops. With...
More »‘Almost 30 per cent of our land undergoing degradation’ -Madhumathi DS
-The Hindu ISRO-led study analysed satellite imageries of the country over an eight-year period Bengaluru: Nearly 30 per cent per cent of the country’s total geographical area is undergoing degradation, according to a study that analysed satellite imageries of the country over an eight-year period. The degrading area has increased over 0.5 per cent to 29.3 million hectares during the period, as shown by comparative remote-sensing satellite imageries of the States for the...
More »Global food prices seen stagnating as population growth slows -Manisha Jha and Isis Almeida
-Livemint.com/ Bloomberg Global population growth, the main driver of demand increases, is declining, while income growth in emerging economies is projected to be weaker, say OECD and FAO London: Food prices will stagnate over the next decade as the population growth rate declines and income expansion in emerging economies slows. Food costs will stabilize at a level slightly higher than in the years before the 2007-08 price spike, the Organization for Economic...
More »Progress of rains less than ideal -Aditi Nayar
-The Hindu Business Line Low ground water levels have led to sluggish start to sowing of most kharif crops Pay Commission payouts may be a welcome shower of salary, but monsoon showers matter most for the economy. Why so? The proportion of the country’s working population dependent on agriculture was at 38 per cent in 2011-12 — and this, even as the share of agriculture in the Indian economy stood at a modest 15...
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