President Barack Obama on Monday announced a U.S.-Indian partnership to promote food security in Africa, harnessing technology to battle starvation in a part of the world where China has boosted its presence. "We are going to share Indian expertise with farmers in Africa," Obama said in a speech to India's parliament. The project will link U.S., Indian and African universities to spread knowledge and boost innovation, while deploying technology to improve drought-resistant...

In 25 years, the Narmada Bachao Andolan has introduced an alternative development discourse in India. ON the full moon night in October, hundreds of people from all over India gathered at Bhilgaon, one of the many tribal villages in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, in the foothills of the Satpura mountain range and on the banks of the river Narmada. The place resounded with jingles, revolutionary folk songs and strains of...

Could India's mock war on poverty ever turn real? India became independent 63 years ago. Since Independence the country has implemented 10 Five Year Plans and a few Annual Plans. Currently the 11th Plan is being executed. Efforts made during the last six decades have resulted in the modernisation of a stagnant economy and India's emergence as a major industrial power. This period also witnessed remarkable progress in agricultural production. But India...

The ‘Aichi Target' adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at its Nagoya conference could not have come at a more appropriate time. The journal Science recently published a study by Michael Hoffmann and his colleagues titled “The Impact of Conservation on the Status of the World's Vertebrates.” This presents depressing data on threatened species. The scientists conclude that four important factors — agricultural expansion, logging, over-exploitation, and invasive...

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday said that the "revolutionary" target of land to the tillers should be pursued honestly to sustain the interests of farm labourers and increase the agricultural productivity of India. "Agricultural labourer is the real farmer. With their hard work, we are able to grow crops but they do not have lands. 'Land to the tillers' revolutionary target should not fade away. This should be achieved...