Taking forward the reform process in the public distribution system (PDS), Orissa government today decided to abolish storage agent arrangement from April 1, the Utkal Divas Day. This was decided at a high level meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. After abolition of 863 storage agents spread over the state, the government would assign the job of stocking public distribution items to state run Orissa Civil Supply Corporation, official sources...

Dramatic cuts in industrial emissions of the global warming greenhouse gases that threaten to drastically change Earth’s climate are achievable in both developed and developing countries at acceptable cost with the right policies, the United Nations reported today. In a series of studies, the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), an agency mandated to promote sustainable industrial development in developing countries, highlighted the need to combine energy efficiency, renewable energy and the...

Fast-growing emerging nations are taking increasingly aggressive actions to beat back rising food prices as they grow more worried of threats to stability if prices don't start to retreat. Developing-market governments have unveiled a laundry list of measures—including price caps, export bans and rules to counter commodity speculation—to keep food costs from disrupting their economies as price spikes that some had hoped were temporary have stretched into the new year. Some...

Decline in number of pollinators reduces yield potential of crops Bees die the day after pesticide application Decline in number of feral and hived colonies Indiscriminate use of pesticides has resulted in the decline of honeybee population in Idukki and Kasaragod districts, studies show. S. Devanesan, Professor and Principal Scientist, All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honeybees and Pollinators, College of Agriculture of Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, said indiscriminate use of pesticides caused...

The need for ensuring food security for the poor is indisputable. However, the means to do so have to be practical and fiscally sustainable. That is what the prime minister’s economic advisory council Chairman C Rangarajan and a group headed by him, which looked into the proposed food security law, seem to think. Most of the points raised by this panel about the recommendations of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory...