From the time a farmer in India harvests his produce to the time it lands on your plate, farm products go through several layers of middlemen, wholesalers, cold chains and other intermediaries, which push its price up by many notches. The end result: growers get paid less and consumers pay more. The stranglehold that the government has over agriculture produce marketing in India has given rise to abject inefficiencies, lack...

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here on Sunday that the State government would initiate action against officials of the Agriculture Department and Plantation Corporation of Kerala Ltd. who endorsed the use of Endosulfan in Kasaragod district.Speaking after inaugurating Karshaka Bhavanam at Anayara here, he said a section of agricultural scientists who certified the use of the deadly pesticide were also responsible for the human tragedy caused by exposure to Endosulfan.The...

The CPI(M) today said the government has "no mandate" to negotiate the Indo-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) without consulting Parliament and political parties as it would adversely affect the economy and large sections of the people. Maintaining that negotiations on FTA "till date have been conducted under a veil of secrecy", it claimed that the Government has in the past signed agreements that "affect large sections of the people adversely...

Social exclusion of children belonging to marginalised groups and barriers to children's access to their rights-based entitlements were highlighted as crucial issues confronting the society at a workshop on children's rights here recently. Activists said children being forced to work as labourers was an “abysmal failure” of all institutions.The day-long workshop was organised jointly by Save the Children, Prayatna, Society for All Round Developemnt (SARD), Consumer Unity and Trust Society...

Chief minister Nitish Kumar dreams big. His latest wish is to boost the agricultural output of the state to such an extent that every person in this nation has at least one food item from Bihar on his or her platter.“I want to take Bihar to the pinnacle. I dream of a day when every people in this nation will have at least one food item in their dish or...