-Vikalp The recently concluded Bali Ministerial marks an important milestone in the WTO negotiations. The National Food Security Act, 2013 in India has brought the issue of food security and hunger within developing countries to the forefront of the negotiations in the WTO. In this context, the G-33 proposal addressing the issue of non-recognition of food security concerns of developing countries within the global trade rules reflected a meaningful unity within...

-Live Mint By giving in to pressure from the US and EU, India has landed itself and the developing world in a bad trade deal The stenographic cacophony in the Indian media had a singular triumphalist message from the ninth World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meet in Bali: India had secured a major victory by safeguarding its food security programme and stood its ground against the US and the European Union...

-IPS   Food security activists who secured a moratorium on introducing genetically modified brinjal (aubergine) into India fear that their efforts are being undermined by the release of GM brinjal in neighbouring Bangladesh. "India and Bangladesh share a long and porous border and it is easy for GM brinjal varieties to be brought over," says Suman Sahai, director of Gene Campaign, a Delhi-based research and advocacy group devoted to the conservation of...

-The Hindu Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh): Neither cinema nor television is a match for good old folk traditions when it comes to providing succour to distressed souls in rural confines. If it is the vigorous Kolatam in the plains, it is the rhythmic Dandari and the Ghussadi folk dances in tribal areas of Adilabad which are acting as escape valves for the emotionally charged farmers in the backdrop of the debilitating onslaught...

-Women's Feature Service The ‘gola' or grain basket, built on elevated ground in Goyadham village in Sunderban's South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, is central to the food security of several households here. As Sofia Bibi, 45, says, "The grain is protected from the recurrent flooding and storms and we are ensured of a regular supply when there is no agricultural work during the months of September to November and March to...