-The Hindu By allowing futures trade in food and diversion of farm land for commercial purposes, the UPA government is fuelling the price rise International agencies are warning of high food prices on a global scale in 2013 if urgent action is not taken. But our government shows little concern. The President’s address to Parliament had only a cursory mention of inflation. “Inflation is easing gradually, but is still a problem,” he...

-Governance Now Rakesh Kumar now swears by organic farming — in three years, he has maximised yield and minimised input cost If Rakesh Kumar is over the moon — and he has every reason to be, having just set the world record in per-hectare potato harvest — he does not show it. An unassuming man, the 35-year-old Nalanda resident smiles when you mention his record but for both Kumar and his family...

-The Hindustan Times Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has taken his wrangle with finance minister P Chidambaram and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar over the Centre's job guarantee programme to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's court. Stung by their repeated assertions that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) schemes were having a negative impact on the availability of farm labour, Ramesh shot a note to the PM to "respond to the concerns raised by...

-The Hindu While there is reason to be proud of the progress in the production of wheat, rice, cereals and millets, the use of farmland for non-farm purposes is a cause for concern The year 2013 marks the 70th anniversary of the Bengal Famine which resulted in the death of an estimated 1.5 to 3 million children, women and men during 1942-43. A constellation of factors led to this mega-tragedy, such as...

-Outlook Country's foodgrain production is estimated to decline by 3.5 per cent to 250.14 million tonne in 2012-13 crop year as poor rains have hit rice and coarse cereal crops, but the government said the output will be enough to meet the demand. The foodgrain production was a record 259.32 million tonne in 2011-12 crop year (July-June). "We had produced about 260 million tonne foodgrains last year. This year, we have crossed 250...