-The United Nations After three months of stability, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index declined in December, meaning the index fell over the course of 2014 for the third consecutive year. The 1.7 per cent fall in December, which comes after the index had appeared to bottom out last month, was credited to continued large supplies and record stocks, combined with a strong US dollar and falling...

-PTI Global Financial Integrity puts the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country at Rs 28 lakh crore in 10 years Washington: As India continues its pursuit of suspected black money stashed abroad, an international think-tank has ranked the country third globally with an estimated USD 94.76 billion (nearly Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth outflows in 2012. As a result, the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country over a...

-The Hindu It is not the responsibility of the government alone to act in order to curb corruption; corporate firms need to be proactive as well in checking fraudulent financial practices The winter session of Parliament witnessed a noisy debate on the black money controversy. Governments of all hues have disappointed the Indian janata on the issue of black money and the failure is often associated with a perceived nexus between politicians...

-Business Standard India's mixed record on the Millennium Development Goals is a pointer to policy priorities In 2000, the United Nations held a Millennium Summit, at which the membership adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Spanning a range of development indicators - poverty, gender, health, education and the environment - the MDGs essentially established a set of targets for the global community to achieve by 2015. The framework sets eight broad...

-IPS News SUNDARBANS: November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. There is little agricultural wage-work to be found, and the village moneylender's loan remains unpaid, its interest mounting. The paddy harvest is a month away, pushing rice prices to an annual high. For those like Namita Bera,...