What stops the government from using good harvests to reduce, if not eliminate, hunger? For ordinary folk, a 3 per cent increase in food grain production over that of last year, combined with strong procurement operations and good buffer stocks of rice and wheat would be a cause for some celebration. It would be seen as an opportunity to tackle the widespread food insecurity that exists in India today. Instead, we...

-Reuters Latest World Bank food price index showed the cost of food rose 8% between December and March Global food prices are rising again, pushed higher by costlier oil, strong demand from Asia and bad weather in parts of Europe, South America and the United States, the World Bank said on Wed nesday. The latest World Bank food price index showed the cost of food rose 8% between December and March. In the...

Hoardings dotting the city claim ‘miraculous' cure for a range of ailments through homoeopathy. From stopping hair fall to treating obesity and from bringing in hormonal balance to curing infertility, mushrooming clinics promise an answer to all. But main stream doctors scoff at these claims and maintain that the very system of homoeopathy is a ‘scientific hoax'. And caught between claims and counter claims, patients are a confused lot these days. “People...

-The Business Standard   Too much grain, and no way to distribute it In about a month from now, the country’s ever-bulging foodgrain stockpile will bloat further to over 75 million tonnes, a record amount. This will be nearly two-and-a-half times the stipulated maximum food buffer. Worse, it will outstrip the available warehousing capacity (covered and open) of 63 million tonnes by a wide margin. Even today, a good part of the present...

 It was UPA 1's winning mantra. But the Rs 33,000 crore a year rural job guarantee scheme may be floundering with the government admitting the flagship programme suffers from delayed payments, poor awareness, lack of durable assets, faulty job cards and muster rolls.  The finance ministry has echoed some of the major criticisms of the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Actlisting endemic "lack of awareness about rights and entitlements" and inability...