The amount of rural reportage in the Indian media remains far too low, with even important stories such as those on farmer suicides tending to be ignored. One of the outspoken critics of this trend has been P Sainath, rural-affairs editor of The Hindu  and 2007 winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts. He was also the journalist who originally broke the story on...

THE high economic growth in India, unlike in the case of China, has not translated into a rapid reduction of hunger in India, a US-based policy think-tank has said. India ranks 67th in an 84-country ranking and has more hungry people than its neighbouring countries. “Higher growth rates in India has not been translated into hunger reduction,” Ashok Gulati , Director ASIa, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said after the release...

India dropped two ranks to 67th among 84 developing countries in the International Food Policy Research Institute's annual " Global Hunger Index" for 2010. Even Sudan, North Korea and Pakistan rank higher than India. While the report, released on Monday, shows that the proportion of undernourished in India is decreASIng, the worsening ranking indicates that other developing countries have done better in tackling hunger. India is home to 42% of the...

Reports of a possible global food crisis could not have come at a worse time for India. Food inflation is still over 16% and though plentiful rains this year hold out the promise of one of our best agricultural years ever , last week’s warning by the US administration of ‘dramatically’ lower supplies of corn, rice and wheat could force the RBI to tighten more than otherwise warranted in order...

Delhi is an anxious city this monsoon season, struggling to meet an onerous deadline. Preparations continue at a feverish pace for the 19th Commonwealth Games (CWG), which will bear down on the Indian metropolis October 3-14, along with some 8,500 athletes from the 71 states and territories that were once part of the British Empire. Around-the-clock construction and spells of heavy monsoon rain have turned Delhi into a swirl of mud...