-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The risk of losing room to raise the minimum support price for rice possibly prompted India's hard stand at the WTO in July, which LED to the collapse of trade talks. The farm subsidy notification made by India at the WTO earlier this week shows that the subsidy to rice risks exceeding the WTO permissible limit. If there is no relief on the procurement issue, the government...

-The Indian Express For a government that won office on the plank of fighting corruption and promising ‘‘achhe din'' to citizens disgruntLED by poor service delivery, one would have thought putting in place an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal framework would be a top priority. However, after 100 days of being in power, the Modi sarkar's report card on transparency and accountability disappoints. It is well established that openness in government functioning...

-The Hindu Business Line   World Bank economist says there is ‘policy fatigue' Washington DC: Improving farm productivity is central to the Indian government's goal of achieving ‘faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth', the World Bank has said in a recent report ‘Accelerating Agricultural Productivity Growth in India - Issues and Opportunities'. Although agricultural growth rebounded after 2004-05, two worrying trends emerged: concerns about the nature and sustainability of growth, the report observes, adding...

-The United Nations The Earth's protective ozone layer is on track to recover by the middle of the century, the United Nations today reported, urging unified action to tackle climate change and curb continued fluctuations to the composition of the atmosphere. That is according to the assessment of 300 scientists in the summary document of the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2014, published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN...

-Deccan Chronicle We are faced with two crises on a planetary scale - climate change and species extinction. Our current modes of production and consumption, starting with the Industrial Revolution and aggravated by the advent of industrial agriculture, have contributed to both. If no action is taken to reduce greenhouse gases, we could experience a catastrophic 4°C increase in temperatures by the end of the century. But climate change is not just...