Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has declined to be dragged into the controversy surrounding the implementation of the food security Bill. The move assumes significance in the wake of the differences between Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) and the Rangarajan committee. Pawar said his ministry was ready to implement the Bill according to the decision taken by the government. On a visit to the state-of-the-art Gowardhan dairy at Manchar,...

Rajasthan's Jatawali village hosts a debate on census showing how rural India badly needs state help. An old couple in Jatavali village in Choumu tehsil of Jaipur were having an early lunch at noon with their daughter. The man had a roti and a large chunk of crumpled baati (baked wheat balls) and a fairly large bowl of dal. He was making little cakes of baati, dipping them in the dal...

The Trinamul Congress, an ally of the Congress-led UPA government, has decided to hit the streets from tomorrow to protest the rise in prices of petrol and other commodities. The Trinamul announcement today came minutes after CPM labour arm Citu declared a three-hour state-wide public transport strike from 12 noon to 3pm tomorrow to protest the fuel price hike. A Citu protest rally will also be held in Esplanade at 1pm...

India's environment ministry has ordered the demolition of a block of flats in Mumbai that has been at the centre of a corruption scandal. It said the Adarsh Society building must be demolished within three months for breaching coastal protection laws. The 31-storey high-rise was originally planned as a six-storey housing project for war widows. But flats were sold to politicians and military officers, allegedly at prices far below the market rate. The block,...

The new era of Price Rise can be turned into a profitable proposition for the farmer. The decade that passed can safely be called agrarian. For good or bad reasons, the world spent the decade talking about agriculture. Food grain Price Rise was the talking point across the continents. To note a landmark, the decade ended an era of cheap food. After the food crisis in 1974 there was a continuous...