Acting with determination and firm action, it should be possible for India to step up its agricultural growth rate to 10 per cent. The 11th Five Year Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of the Plan period. The Planning Commission is working towards an overall 9 per cent to 10 per cent growth rate. But the target of 4 per cent growth rate is...

In an upstairs classroom at a residential school in Mal, near Lucknow, the girls are revising for their exams. As the light starts to fade at the glassless windows, each girl takes a brightly coloured plastic lamp and carries it to her space on the floor. There is no electricity, but the lamps are solar powered. They have been donated jointly by Swedish company Ikea and the United Nations Children’s...

Pawar asks FCI to take corrective measures Lack of godowns major problem With the proposed National Food Security Bill on the anvil, the Food Ministry has cracked the whip to eliminate damage to foodgrains stocks stored in the open, under monsoon conditions. Based on the findings of the Ministry's inspection team, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) on Wednesday suspended senior officials and sought explanation from top executives for improper handling of and...

THE fast-depleting groundwater levels and subsidised electricity supply to farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh spell doom for agricultural productivity in the region regarded as the “Food Bowl of India”, and has prompted the government to turn its gaze towards the eastern region for fulfilling its food security ambitions. A background note drafted by the department of agriculture and cooperation (DoAC) for the two-daylong workshop on the theme...

The much-acclaimed public distribution system (PDS) of Kerala has lost its scope and acceptance due to diminished allotment of cereals and repeated reductions in coverage. Experts admit that prior to the introduction of targeting, Kerala had one of the best run and most effective PDS networks in India and a model system worth emulating by the other states in the country. Kerala was the only state in India with near-universal coverage...