-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today banned tourism in the core areas of India’s tiger reserves till further orders, fuelling fears among tour operators and some conservationists that people would lose the chance to watch the animals in the wild, local economies would bleed and poaching would increase. The court, responding to a petition by a non-government environment organisation, acknowledged concerns expressed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority that tourism may be...

Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution KV Thomas tells Nitin Sethi that it makes better sense to distribute stocked foodgrain to people of the country than subsidise exports. Possible spread of drought that the government is looking at... At the moment, monsoon rainfall is 23% below the long term average. But we have to wait another 15 days to know the full situation. We had discussion in the presence...

-Inclusion.in There is good news. And there’s bad news. The good news first. There’s been a bumper wheat crop and the granaries are overflowing. And the bad news? Where do we begin? A lot of that grain will rot. Millions will still remain hungry. Heavily in debt and distressed, farmers are committing suicide. Food prices are soaring. There’s more… Farmers don’t have money. Their land is too small and isn’t yielding much. Fertilisers and...

-NDTV Could two million tonnes of wheat produced in the country end up as cattle fodder overseas even as millions go hungry at home? A day after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the export of 2 million tonnes of wheat, Right to Food activists have written to the Prime Minister slamming the move. They want a reversal of the decision. The letter, signed by a number of leading activists including...

The Government of India has formally launched the news Guidelines of the MGNAREGA based on the Mihir Shah Committee report. The news guidelines include many new works under conservation activities and it strengthens the hands of the village panchayats and gram sabhas. However, the list of works does not include the activities under the system of rice intensification (SRI) which encourages scientific method of paddy cultivation with better yield in...