Three farmers in three districts of Madhya Pradesh Monday attempted to commit suicide, in a grim reminder of the continuing crisis the state's farmers find themselves in after their crops were destroyed by frost. Ramji Marawi (28), a farmer of Saliwada village in Jabalpur, allegedly took poison along with his two sons Manish (8) and Manoj (4). They have been admitted to the Jabalpur Medical College Hospital, police said. 'For three days...

Billions of dollars are being made by investors in a speculative "food bubble" that's created record food prices, starving millions and destabilising countries, experts now conclude. Wall Street investment firms and banks, along with their kin in London and Europe, were responsible for the technology dot-com bubble, the stock market bubble, and the recent U.S. and UK housing bubbles. They extracted enormous profits and their bonuses before the inevitable collapse of...

Expressing his "helplessness" on high food inflation, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar today said the farmers must get right value for their produce so that they are encouraged to increase production of essential farm commodities to rein in price rise. He, however, said that it was states' responsibility to ensure proper distribution of food grains to the people through ration shops while the Centre is responsible for production, procurement and moving...

The class bias in government policy is clear in the decision to release a small amount of foodgrain in the open market to tackle inflation. MOST people would agree that there is a strong element of speculation underlying the current inflation and that forward trading contributes to it. Yet the government, though it has banned forward trading in certain commodities under public pressure, is curiously reluctant to see this point....

Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has decided to enhance the daily wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Nrega) to Rs 121 from the existing Rs 100. The job card holders who have completed the existing maximum limit of 100 days of employment under Nrega A will also now be employed for an additional 25 days. A decision to this effect was taken by Reddy at a review meeting. Crop...