-The Business Standard The only way to fix food inflation Both the inflation figures for November and current market reports indicate that the contours of food inflation have changed tangibly of late. While the prices of pulses, edible oils and sugar have tended to either moderate or decline, those of staple cereals, notably rice and wheat, and of perishable items, chiefly vegetables and fruits, continue to propel food inflation higher. The blame...

-IPS News Bhubaneswar: More than a month after Cyclone Phailin battered Orissa, tribes in the eastern Indian coastal state are still feeling its wrath. Besides the damage to their homes and hearths, it has also meant a loss of their traditional food. "Calamities like Cyclone Phailin affect all equally, but the tribes are far more vulnerable to the impact of calamities because of lesser resilience," Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mahapatra tells IPS. This...

-The Telegraph Patna: Students of around 210 government schools in Patna district would have to skip their midday meal for the next fortnight. A day after a dead rat was found in the midday meal supplied to the Government Primary School in Saidpur, the chief minister today ordered stern action against the non-government organisation (NGO) which supplied the food to the school. Ekta Shakti Foundation, a Delhi-based NGO, supplies midday meals to 210...

-The Hindustan Times The current electoral discourse shows an amazing disconnect with the actual reality of the deteriorating livelihood conditions of our people. The other day, the BJP PM aspirant thundered in Bangalore that the BJP seeks to create confidence and not fear among the people. The 2002 Gujarat communal pogrom makes this sound incredulous. There is nothing in the BJP's campaign pitch that offers any solution or a methodology for...

-The Times of India MANALI: Tourists visiting Manali will find it tough to get food as several hotels here have shut their kitchens due to the rising prices of onion, tomato, potato, cabbage and other vegetables. Several restaurants and dhabas are not even serving onion paranthas for the breakfast now. Hotels, which used to serve their guests with food from in-house kitchens, are now requesting them to have food outside. Hoteliers say...