-The Guardian US leaders worked hard to tackle the 1930s drought and food crisis. Today they are supine, offering the hungry only prayers If you're wondering whether the US drought will create a global food crisis, the answer's easy. It's yes, because there's a food crisis already. The latest year for which we have figures is 2010, when 925 million people were declared malnourished. Soon after the number was announced, the World...

-The Times of India The present food Bill legalises the injustices of a targeted distribution system A national campaign throughout the month of July on issues related to food security and against rising prices will culminate in a five-day sit-in protest in Delhi beginning today. These are issues fundamental to the well-being of the majority of our people and therefore deserve national support.   With the spectre of drought haunting the countryside, speculators, hoarders...

-The United Nations The United Nations food standards body has agreed on new regulations, including the maximum level of melamine in liquid milk formula for babies, as part of its efforts to help protect the health of consumers, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. Other measures adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission – jointly run by WHO and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – include new food safety standards...

-Down to Earth   Buy an Indian breed from Australia In June last year, we visited Malaysia on the invitation of the country’s oldest and most active consumer action group, The Consumer Association of Penang, to study the livestock production systems and to advise on how these can be transformed into more sustainable and less industrial farming systems. The past 40 years of aggressive industrial growth in Malaysia has seen small-scale peasant agriculture and...

-PTI Methane gas generated from human waste could be used to light up bio-toilets developed by scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.  Acting on suggestions made by Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, the premier research agency is now working to provide lighting solution for the convenience of those who will use bio-toilets in darkness.  "We are finding out the means to do it as the rate of production of...