Natural disasters, conflict and weak institutions have thrust 22 countries into recurring food crises and high prevalence of hunger, two United Nations agencies said today in a report on food insecurity around the world, calling for longer-term solutions to help those States recover their productive capacity. Chronic hunger and food insecurity is the most common characteristic of a protracted crisis, according to the report, the “State of Food Insecurity in the...

The new mining legislation will make woman of the house chief beneficiary of the compensation for land acquired for mining project, as the government seeks to ensure the large amounts provided go into ensuring Livelihood and are not depleted quickly. This is in sync with the government’s attempt to empower women by giving them a bigger role in financial decision-making. “Women are known to manage the household finances better than their male...

Evincing keen interest in working with India in the area of rural development, a British delegation today called on Rural Development Minister C P Joshi and sought co-operation in furthering Indo-British ties in the sector.The delegation, led by All Party Indo-British Parliamentary Group chairman and Labour Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall Virendra Sharma sought the co-operation of the Ministry in furthering Indo-British ties in poverty alleviation, education, skill development...

A new round of UN climate talks opened in north China's Tianjin Municipality on Monday, which is expected to pave the way for the year-end Cancun summit in Mexico. About 3,000 delegates from party and observer countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol are attending the meeting on Oct. 4-9. They are expected to discuss the negotiating text reached at the Bonn talks in...

As the common man continues to reel under the spiraling rise in prices of essential commodities especially key food items and vegetables the forever-rising food inflation is posing a serious challenge to policy makers. Though top government officials, including the Finance Minister and the Chairman of the Planning Commission have repeatedly assured that the food prices will soon stop rising, in reality it has gone the other way.   The rising spree...