Soon after the monsoon was over, rains made unseasonal comeback in Nashik and nearby areas again on Diwali day. As days passed, the initial surprise turned into shock as it rained night after night, and by Sunday it had rained 525mm in November. Heavy showers and thunderstorms all over the district damaged the crops so much that nothing of the rabi (winter) crop remains. Vineyards have thrown away young berries at...

Neither celebrity nor politician, Sita Murmu, is extraordinary because she is the great survivor of that `other India'. She is not a beneficiary of the job guarantee scheme MGNREGA and doesn't have a BPL card. In her 60s, she lives in a Bhubaneswar slum and describes herself as a tribal widow without any land, regular income or schooling but "surviving —that itself is enough". Railing at the false promises of...

The spectre of a global food crisis has reared its head again. Soaring corn prices, which on Monday recorded their biggest one-day rise since 1973, have triggered fears of a return to the turmoil of 2007-2008. Far-reaching measures are needed to prevent a recurrence. Rising prices over the last decade are in part the result of burgeoning demand from emerging markets such as China and India. The emergence of commodities as...

At least 5000 farmers of the district's Sadar block will not get insurance claims of their crops that got damaged in drought last year due to wrong assessment report of the officials. A four-member block-level team comprising block agriculture officer, junior statistics supervisor, block cooperative officer and circle inspector had submitted its report after field assessment in four selected areas, which included four large multi-purpose cooperative society (LAMPS) plots in Lohardaga,...

With business leaders and the Australian Government finally acknowledging the need to put a price on carbon, climate change is back on the agenda here in Australia and it's also on the agenda this week internationally. Representatives from countries around the world, including Australia, are assembling in Tianjin, China, as part of a crucially important United Nations Climate Change Conference that starts today. After last year's Copenhagen talks nearly collapsed, the...