Resurgent food prices, which rose by 10% on average in many regional economies in Asia this year, can push an additional 64 million people into extreme poverty, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report says. The study, titled, 'Global Food Price Inflation and Developing Asia', by the multilateral lending agency, finds that a 10% rise in domestic food prices could push an additional 64 million people, out of 3.3 billion people living...

According Maharashtra agriculture department estimates, soyabean is no longer the prime favourite in India's second largest producer as farmers shift to cotton. That could be a setback for India's attempts to become more self-sufficient in cooking oil, which is the second largest import item after Crude oil. "Due to good price realisation for cotton this year, area conversion from soya to cotton is most likely to happen. It is too...

Cash transfer as substitute for state service provision is a dangerous recipe for callously anti-poor and corrupt governance. THE staggering number of recent articles, papers and books on the virtues of giving cash in place of public services to the poor has created an impression that a sort of epidemic has broken out. Economists, policymakers, bureaucrats and newspaper commentators are all infected by it and are in turn infecting others. The central...

Many work in unscientifically built mines, employing crude methods and risking their lives The mines in Hazaribagh district are manned mostly by children aged between 7 and 17 Exposure to dust and coal particles has left them with respiratory problems Javir Kumar, 14, works in illegal coal mines, each a “rat hole,” 10x10 foot and 400 foot deep, where a mere slip of the foot will plunge one to a certain death. A large...

Food inflation moved up to 11.49 per cent for the week ended February 12 as compared with 11.05 per cent for the previous week even as prices of certain items fell marginally. Despite the increase, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said while inflation has been a concern for the last 18 months, it will come down to 7 per cent by the end of the current fiscal. According to the Wholesale...