-Frontline A recession-hit world is only just waking up to the prospect of the coming food crisis resulting in a period of political turmoil with unexpected consequences. For the third time in five years, the world is braced for another food crisis. Bad weather conditions are leading to projections of major production shortfalls in some of the world’s leading food suppliers. Substantially reduced access and sharp price increases are, therefore, expected to...
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Reforms, competition in distribution and end to coal monopoly only antidotes to power failures-Arvind Panagariya
-The Economic Times The power failure in India on July 30-31 was big news in US media. When the radio and TV stations began calling with the question whether this spelt the end to India's claims to global-power status, my first reaction was to remind them that a similar failure of the grid in 2003 had drowned the entire Northeast and Midwest in the US and Ontario in Canada into darkness. But,...
More »Resurgent agricultural sector to have larger share in economy-Vinay Pandey
-The Economic Times A change in the national accounts, slated to take place sometime in the next two years, will show that a resurgent farm sector is now the second biggest contributor to the economy, displacing manufacturing and financial services. The unexpected reversal is not just a statistical artefact. Instead it is an outcome of a change in the terms of trade, the price of agricultural produce compared to industrial output since...
More »UN hails Australian court decision against ‘desperate’ tobacco industry
-The United Nations The United Nations health agency today applauded the decision by Australia’s High Court to dismiss a legal challenge from the tobacco industry targeting the country’s new restrictive tobacco marketing laws. In a statement strongly welcoming what she called a “landmark” ruling, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan called on other countries to follow Australia’s example and adopt an equally tough stance on tobacco marketing. Australia is now on track...
More »Dr Anand Teltumbde, Dalit intellectual, thinker and human rights activist interviewed by Prasanna D Zore
-Rediff.com On July 14, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court commuted the death sentence awarded to six convicts in the Khairlanji murder case to 25 years' rigorous imprisonment. On September 29, 2006, a mob brutally raped a mother and daughter before killing them along with her two sons. Surekha Bhotmange (then 42), Priyanka Bhotmange (17), Roshan Bhotmange (19) and Sudhir Bhotmange (21) belonged to one of the three Dalit families...
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