-Hindustan Times Nearly half of what the average Indian earns she spends on food. And when food pRices rise, the average Indian’s budget feels the strain. In November, the consumer food pRice index, which tracks food pRices at retail sales points, was up 6.07% as compared to 5.25% in October. Even data relating to the Wholesale PRice Index (WPI), which tracks pRices of commodities when they are traded in bulk, show...

-Down to Earth Black Rice is drought resistant and has rich medicinal properties. Manipur and Assam are reviving this variety Not very long ago, black Rice (Oryza sativa) was forbidden in China. Not because it looked poisonous for its black colour, but because it had nutritional values, and found a place only on an emperor’s menu. For centuries, the nutritional values of this wild Rice eluded common people. It is only now...

-The Hindu Business Line A CAG report has laid bare the fact that Rice millers have for decades reaped undue gains even as they failed to replenish the national food stock Much like Rice spilling out of a tear in the sack, the country’s food procurement system has been leaking crores of rupees every year and impoverishing the government. Last week, in a report presented to Parliament the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG)...

-The Hindu City fetes Jadav Payeng and Abdul Kareem — men who built forests from scratch. Mumbai: Leaders of nations the world over devote a large part of their time, money and policy framework to the growth of the economy. But if they held their breath for a minute, they would realise it is life-sustaining oxygen that needs their urgent attention. At the recently-concluded Paris climate change conference, Jadav “Molai” Payeng, 52, known...

-The Financial Express The perennial gap between allocation of grain meant for the public distribution system by the Food Corporation of India, the principal procurement agency, and the lifting of such grains The perennial gap between allocation of grain meant for the public distribution system by the Food Corporation of India, the principal procurement agency, and the lifting of such grains by the states has narrowed considerably in recent months, reports Sandip...