Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan has warned that India’s food security is being steadily imperilled by the sharp decline in agricultural growth. Speaking on the Ministry of Earth Sciences Foundation Day Lecture 2010, Dr Swaminathan warned that in 2005-6, the agricultural growth was 5.2 per cent of GDP but according to Planning Commission Statistics, it has dipped to 0.2 per cent in 2009-10. This would decline with a projected two degree temperature rise...
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‘Nearly 200 women killed every year after being branded witches'
Citing National Crime Bureau Statistics, a Dehra Dun-based NGO has said that nearly 150-200 women are killed every year in the country after being tagged as ‘witches.' Jharkhand tops the list with 50-60 witchcraft-related murders every year, followed by Andhra Pradesh, where the number is around 30, Haryana with 25-30 and Orissa with 24-28 deaths, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) chairman Avdhash Kaushal said. According to a study conducted by RLEK,...
More »Who’s Afraid of Caste Census? by Kancha Ilaiah
Ever since the Centre announced that it would collect data on various castes during the ongoing Census, the media has created a hue and cry saying that this would harm the nation and open a Pandora’s Box of caste conflicts. On the other hand, those who seek caste enumeration are of the view that this would clear the cobwebs and deliver proper data on other backward classes (OBCs) that will...
More »Navodaya entrance tests violate RTE by Prashant K Nanda
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has asked the schools to scrap the entrance tests for admissions The government’s special schools have discovered that their selection process is in direct violation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which stipulates that entrance tests are illegal up to class VIII. The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), a special group of 594 schools across India, have conducted two rounds of “selection tests” to...
More »UN agency opens up access to largest database of hunger Statistics
The world’s largest and most comprehensive database on food, agriculture and hunger is now open to the public, free of charge, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today. Previously, it was possible to download a limited amount of information from FAOSTAT, but access to large amounts of data required a paid annual subscription. The database contains over one million data points covering more than 200 countries and territories. Hafez Ghanem,...
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