FAO has warned that 2011 may witness a global food crisis. Proactive action is needed to meet the challenge of price volatility, chronic hunger, agrarian despair and climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has alerted developing countries about possible steep rises in food prices during 2011, if steps are not taken immediately to increase significantly the production of major food crops. According to FAO, “with...

The Congress has proposed the introduction of an RTI-like legislation exclusively for “corporate corridors”, floating what looks like a nascent idea at a time some industrialists have criticised the government after the leak of the Niira Radia tapes. The suggestion was made in the latest issue of the Congress mouthpiece Sandesh and released today at the plenary where Sonia made an anti-corruption drive the cornerstone of her speech. “The Right to Information...

IT WAS a windfall five years ago that taught Panchali Satyavva the power of a lie. It happened one Monday afternoon in Someshwar village of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh. It was raining in sheets and she had just placed a bucket under the steady trickle of water from the roof of her hut. Two men were at her door, holding umbrellas and offering her an unsolicited Rs. 5,000. They...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said his government was determined to formulate a national food security act to ensure that no citizen goes to bed hungry. "We want that no citizen of our country must sleep hungry. We are determined about the formulation of the national food security act," he said at the 83rd plenary session of the Congress party here. The prime minister added that with a good monsoon, India...

If present political trends and shifts in Andhra Pradesh intensify, the State could see an election within a year. And not just over Telangana. When Chandrababu Naidu sits on a hunger fast for suffering farmers, you know something is afoot in Andhra Pradesh. Excessive rains have devastated the crops in the State. And losses have been enormous. But a farmer losing over Rs.15,000 on an acre of paddy will get less...