-Down to Earth IFAD president Nwanze says he was misquoted by Media and only supported India's food security law Kanayo F Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialised agency of the UN which finances agricultural development projects in developing nations, has reversed his earlier stand supporting India for opposing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). India had vetoed TFA in Geneva over its food security concerns and need...

-Economic and Political Weekly   This is a critical assessment of the Rangarajan Expert Committee on poverty measurement. While much of the Media coverage has focused on the poverty lines recommended by the Committee, this article evaluates the methodology adopted and discusses some wider issues that were flagged in the terms of reference set for this Committee. It argues that the Committee missed an opportunity to mark a significant departure from previous...

-The Telegraph In her recent book, Green Wars, the environmental journalist Bahar Dutt, writes: "The editor of a leading Media house, everytime I pitched a green story, would invariably complain: ‘Environmentalism is stalling growth; all I am interested in is double-digit growth for this country.'" The idea that environmental protection and economic progress are at odds is widely held among India's elite. It is shared by newspaper editors, economists, businessmen, and, not...

-The Hindu Policymakers must continue to follow the twofold strategy of letting the economy grow fast and attacking poverty directly through poverty alleviation programmes In June 2012, the government of India appointed a committee to take a new look at the methodology for measuring poverty. The committee submitted its report towards the end of June 2014. The purpose of this article is to briefly explain the approach taken by this committee. Growth is...

-Business World   The WTO Bali deal is ultimately a battle between food for the poor and trade for the rich The current global uproar at India's refusal to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the WTO Bali Declaration is a classic example of how meticulously orchestrated Media hype and misdirected "expert opinions" attempt to pressurise developing countries into submission at global negotiations. India's primary interest is the food security proposal for ensuring...