DEALS WITH MULTINATIONALS AND OTHER BIG AGRIBUSINESS COMPANIES A wide range of farmers’ organisations, Gandhian organisations, people’s movements and NGOs have united to oppose a series of disturbing agreements which the Rajasthan Government reached with various multinational and other agribusiness companies including Monsanto. These agreements, which greatly increase the control and influence of these companies over the agriculture sector in India’s biggest State (in terms of area), have proved so controversial...

The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices may recommend higher prices in its report. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) may recommend higher minimum support price (MSP) for cotton and sunflower in its report. “Cost of production for most crops have gone up by 10-30 per cent over the last year, due to higher inputs costs like labour and fodder. Cotton has fetched higher market prices compared to its MSP...

A large number of rural women used folk art to show how they had fought for National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), Public distribution System (PDS), regularization of gram sabhas and issues like untouchability and violence against them. Lauding the efforts of the women drawn from several parts of the male-dominated eastern Uttar Pradesh, Mau district Chief Development Officer B.L. Verma said: 'Women empowerment was central to Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy.' He stressed...

As of 2006, over 43% of Indian children under five were malnourished, a rate that has barely budged since the early 1990s. This gives India the dubious distinction of having the highest percentage of malnourished children in the world. There are at least 53 poorer countries with lower malnutrition rates, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Haiti and several African countries. At Independence, India was poor, so it wasn’t thought possible to guarantee...

Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the lowest calorie consumption seem to show better health outcome indicators This report, a joint initiative by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation — an institution with a remarkable long term commitment to issues related to food security — and the United Nations World Food Programme, should serve as an excellent hand book on urban food insecurity. Aside from providing all the relevant information in a consolidated...