-DNA Govt gears up to ring-fence farmers, prices from poor rains India's farm sector shrank for the first time in five years in the year ended March 31, Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Wednesday, a day after the government forecast a likely drought this year that could hit output again. The Met office cut this year's monsoon forecast on an El Nino weather pattern that has raised fears of...
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Fight against hunger too slow and uneven -Jomo Kwame Sundaram
-The Hindu The Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of chronically undernourished people in developing countries by 2015 is within reach. But progress must accelerate by the end of this year Almost 800 million people, or one in nine in the world, continue to suffer from hunger. The number of hungry people has declined globally by more than 167 million over the last decade, and by more than 200 million since...
More »Weather department downgrades monsoon forecast to 88%, stokes drought fears; govt 'prays'
-Hindustan Times India’s June-September monsoon, the lifeblood of Asia’s third-largest economy, will most likely be “deficient” this year with the met department downgrading its forecast from 93% to 88%, earth sciences minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday. The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) revision -- which had forecast “below normal” monsoon in April -- will potentially toughen challenges for the Narendra Modi government already battling a farm crisis triggered by unseasonal rains in...
More »Generic drugs in govt hospitals
-The Telegraph Guwahati: Union minister of chemical and fertilizers Ananth Kumar announced here today that the Centre would set up generic medicine units in at least 100 government hospitals in Assam and supply such medicines at 50 to 60 per cent less than the market price. "We will sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government next week and Rs 2.5 lakh will be spent on construction of each unit in...
More »India tops world hunger list with 194 million people: UN report
-DNA India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the world, at 194 million, surpassing China, according to United Nations annual hunger report. At the global level, the corresponding figure dropped to 795 million in 2014-15, from 1 billion in 1990-92, with East Asia led by China accounting for most of the reductions, UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its report titled 'The State of Food...
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