-TheWire.in An investigation has found that the industry and lobbyists have sabotaged efforts to rein in such behaviour.  New Delhi/London/Rome: Food prices have climbed to unprecedented levels in recent months, adding to an already precarious food security situation in large parts of the developing world. Nearly 200 million people already faced acute food insecurity in 2021, almost double the figure from 2016, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday.   The report blamed the...

-International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)   How the failure to reform food systems has allowed the war in Ukraine to spark a third global food price crisis in 15 years, and what can be done to prevent the next one. With the invasion of Ukraine sparking a third food price crisis in 15 years, a new IPES-Food special report, ‘Another Perfect Storm?’ takes stock of the critical factors fanning...

-Newsclick.in The central government has raked in over Rs18 lakh crore from excise duties compared to Rs14 lakh crore from taxes by all state governments over the past eight years. Yet again, the government has tried to obfuscate the exorbitant petrol/diesel prices by blaming state governments. This time, it was the Prime Minister himself who blamed some Opposition-ruled states for not reducing taxes like the Value Added Tax (VAT) after the central...

-NITI Aayog Working Paper, ISBN: 978-81-953811-7-3 Abstract -  The importance of agriculture in an economy usually declines as it climbs the development ladder. Raising agriculture productivity has been known to be an important precursor. Labour productivity in agriculture can either be increased by higher land productivity or higher land availability per farmer and mechanisation. In India, however, the dramatic increase in land productivity through industrial farming has caused severe environmental damage and...

-The New Indian Express Women in Chinnaparakudy tribal settlement find a source of livelihood, reports  Nejma Sulaiman IDUKKI: Many tribal hamlets in Idukki still follow the primitive practice of secluding menstruating girls and women for up to a week in special huts called ‘valaimapura’. At the Chinnaparakudy settlement in Adimaly panchayat, however, the ‘menstrual hut’ has been converted into a hub of creativity, one that offers a livelihood for women.  Earlier, like in...