We’re in the midst of a global food crisis — the second in three years. World food prices hit a record in January, driven by huge increases in the prices of wheat, corn, sugar and oils. These soaring prices have had only a modest effect on U.S. inflation, which is still low by historical standards, but they’re having a brutal impact on the world’s poor, who spend much if not...

What the state government could not do, a group of rural educationists have done. The Sikhiya Vikas Manch, an association of teachers, mainly from Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur, have got the Right to Education (RTE) Act translated into Punjabi to create awareness about the new law. At the centre of the exercise was Jagjit Singh Nouhra, 35-year-old head teacher of Government Elementary School, Mandour, in Patiala district who has been...

As food prices rose for the seventh month in a row in January, contributing to recent popular unrest in the Middle East and a spike in commodities purchases by developing countries last week, some analysts are quick to make comparisons to the dry years of 2007-2008. But others warn against panic and oversimplified predictions of an impending food crisis, which contribute to price volatility. "It is important to underline – and we've...

JANAKI KNOWS well that it is hard for her to rear more than four children. Yet she is not willing to go to the sterilisation camp. Her husband would be of no help in taking such a decision. “He drinks heavily, beats me up every day,” she says. Janaki is not able to express her fears in clear terms, but it is difficult to imagine her summoning up the courage...

Rules out blanket ban on or approval of such studies ‘HPV vaccination should supplement cervical cancer screening programme' The three-member committee, set up to probe the alleged irregularities in conducting studies using human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine by PATH in India, has identified several deficiencies in the planning and implementation of the project leading “to a crisis requiring suspension of the study,” but has fallen short of fixing responsibility on any individual or...