The lush green Indian state of Kerala, advertised in travel brochures as "God’s Own Country", is at the center of a continuing battle in the country to secure an early ban on the use of the pesticide endosulfan. The Kerala government and activists say the pesticide has caused 4,000 victims in the state, through cancer, crippled limbs and babies born with deformities; 496 related deaths have been officially recorded. No scientist,...

The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) expected to meet on Monday is expected to take a view on an agriculture ministry proposal to export wheat and rice. The proposal is not backed by the food ministry, which wants to take into consideration the interest of consumers, and its own compulsions under the proposed food security bill, before moving on exports under an open general licence. Officials said the food ministry is...

Bumper wheat crop poses new headaches Paradox Of Plenty     * Wheat projection of 84.27 million tonnes hit mandi prices     * Farmers await price revival; govt buys much below last year     * Wait for eGoM on exports as global demand, prices are higher     * Govt storage capacity already tight; fear of damage prevails     * Food security scheme launch to raise stock requirements *** It’s been a nerve-racking week for Brijesh Singh. The 34-year-old...

A member of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council today said the delay in enacting the food security law amounted to “corruption”. “The food security bill is delayed. This is corruption,” Aruna Roy said at a seminar here, strongly pitching for legal guarantees on food security to every citizen in the country. The draft bill finalised by the NAC seeks to provide subsidised grain to up to 75 per cent of the...

Resurgent global food prices, which averaged 10 per cent in many economies and posted record increases in the first two months of this year, may push nearly 30 million Indians and 64 million people in the Asian region into extreme poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday. In a report titled “Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia,” the Manila-based bank warned that a 10 per cent rise in...