-The Indian Express On the surface, the sugar crisis in Uttar Pradesh may seem to be inching closer to a resolution. But cane farmers may have unwittingly mortgaged their land, signing up for crop loans from public sector banks, with the money so raised being used by the mills to pay arrears of a different set of farmers. This model, of mills rotating working capital loans from banks, to deliver pending payouts...

-The Hindu HYDERABAD / KAKINADA / ELURU: Several thousand people were evacuated from low-lying areas, standing crops in a few lakh acres were marooned and coconut trees and electric poles were uprooted in the three coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh as the severe cyclonic storm Helen made a landfall near Machilipatnam on Friday afternoon. Even after landfall, the system was expected to maintain the intensity of cyclonic storm for six hours and...

-Outlook New Delhi: Women activists and senior journalists today expressed dissatisfaction over the way Tehelka management handled the issue of the alleged sexual assault of a woman journalist by its Editor Tarun Tejpal and said law should take its course as it was not an internal matter. They were critical of the statements made by Tehelka Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhury who said it was not a police case which the organisation will...

-The Hindu ‘Report has permitted uncontrolled quarrying in most parts of ghats' Kochi (Kerala): The Kasturirangan report has thrown open the ecologically sensitive areas of Western Ghats to mindless exploitation which would seriously hazard ecology, according to its critics. According to member of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) V.S. Vijayan: the report has in a way permitted uncontrolled quarrying in most parts of the ghats regions of the State. Those...

-The Hindu The Bali ministerial conference in December presents a crucial opportunity to bring about changes in WTO rules Ending hunger and poverty requires major national policy initiatives in developing countries. The United Nations Secretary-General has articulated a broad zero hunger vision, endorsed and embraced as a priority by national leaders in many developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Production of food by small cultivators in developing countries has a...