Mamata Banerjee today appealed to the tribals in the Dooars and the Terai to take their case to the committee formed by the state government to look into the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha demand of bringing the Gorkha-dominated areas of the plains under the hill set-up. The tribals are opposed to the Morcha demand and have threatened protests and demonstrations if the state government accepts it. “A committee chaired by Justice (Retd) Shyamal...

-PTI Even as a controversy rages over the Rs. 32 per capita per day poverty line, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said “it is not all that ridiculous” in Indian conditions. “The fact is that Rs. 4,824 per month for a family [of five] to define poverty is not comfortable but it is not all that ridiculous in Indian conditions,” Mr. Ahluwalia said in a letter to Attorney-General Goolam...

-FAO   Food price volatility featuring high prices is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, the United Nations' three Rome-based agencies said in the global hunger report published today.    Small, import-dependent countries, particularly in Africa, are especially at risk.  Many of them still face severe problems following the world food and economic crises of 2006-2008, the UN Food and...

-PTI   The daily expense cut-off of Rs 32 per person to define urban poverty “is not all that ridiculous in Indian conditions”, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today. The comments, certain to stoke the controversy over the criteria, came in a letter that Ahluwalia wrote to attorney-general Goolam Vahanvati. “The fact is that Rs 4,824 per month for a family (of five persons) to define poverty is not comfortable but...

-The United Nations   The United Nations agencies working to combat hunger today called for action to ensure long-term food security as a new report shows that high food prices are likely to continue and possible increase over the next decade. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011,” an annual flagship report which the three Rome-based agencies jointly produced this year, states that small, import-dependent countries, particularly in Africa, are especially...