A classified US report listed India’s three major river basins — Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra —among the world top 10 water conflict zones in ten years from now. The report based on National Intelligence Estimate on water security said the chances of water issues causing war in next 10 years were minimal but they could disrupt national and global food market and cause tension between states. “Beyond 2022, use of water as...

The 'Food Security' Bill falls flat as its content does not match its aspirations A disconnect runs through the nomenclature, preamble, objectives and content of the National Food Security Bill, 2011. The Preamble goes beyond the Title and states that the Bill provides “for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable price….” Even on cursory reading, it is...

Travelling in rural India always yields rich insights into how poor women struggle to provide that little extra, in terms of food, for the family meal. It was in the village of Vijaypura – in the drought prone Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh – that I came across Bharati, a 39-year-old farm woman and homemaker, working her everyday magic by laying out slices of potato and whole green chillies on the...

To lose bank guarantees for its four power plants in Rajasthan The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has found Lanco Infratech guilty of false commissioning of solar power plants in Rajasthan. The company will now lose its first set of bank guarantees for the remaining four solar photovoltaic plants in Rajasthan. It has already lost bank guarantees of three other plants being set up in the state after...

-ANI   The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs report indicating that India is not a safe place for the girl child hit the headlines in many newspapers and news channels in the country.   Indian society has been known for its preference for the male child.   Among the 150 countries surveyed, including countries classified as LDR (Less Developed Regions), India has the highest rate of female child mortality.   According to this new data -...