-FAO Rome: Food commodity markets are becoming more balanced and less price volatile than in recent years thanks to improved supplies and a recovery in global inventories of cereals, according to FAO's Food Outlook report published today. "The prices for most basic food commodities have declined over the past few months. This relates to production increases and the expectation that in the current season, we will have more abundant supplies, more export...

-The Hindu Assistance to be provided to selected villages to set up rooftop solar panels, rainwater harvesting structures and waste management units Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Farmers in 14 villages across the State will soon be equipped with hi- tech and precision farming methods to boost the production of banana and vegetables. The government has accorded administrative sanction for a flagship project mooted by the Agriculture department to establish poly houses and popularise precision farming...

-The Hindu Mining companies have received favourable impact assessments even as they do great damage to the environment because regulators are willing to look the other way Last week, world leaders concerned about economic development got together at the International Monetary Fund, and gave a series of most instructive interviews. Our Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, said that his problem was the slowing down of India's economic growth and reduction in government revenues....

-The Hindu Some hydel projects that claim exemption from environmental clearance on the basis of size provide a misleading picture of their impact Why would more than four gram panchayats, environmental activists from three States, the presiding swami of the Subramanya Temple, botanists, fisheries scientists, and institutions like the Indian Institute of Science oppose a small hydel project in a remote corner of the Western Ghats in Karnataka? Aren't small hydel projects...

-The Hindustan Times India's fabled growth story has just been exposed by an unlikely source - the World Bank (WB). Unlikely, because this institution is one of those most responsible for advocating economic growth as the pillar of development. In a report released on July 17, the WB states that the cost of environmental damage amounts to 5.7% of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This effectively means (though the report fights shy of...