-The Hindu Business Line This brings higher returns; govt must spend more on R&D, roads: ICRIER paper New Delhi: Spending on agricultural research and development, including extension services, is at least 10 times more effective in reducing poverty than spending on fertiliser or power subsidies, an ongoing study has shown. Spending ?10 lakh on agricultural R&D can help lift 328 people out of poverty, whereas allocating the same for fertiliser or power subsidies...

-Tehelka.com Learning from the recent starvation deaths in Jharkhand, the nation’s leaders must pay heed to the necessity of ensuring food security for all Food and hunger have been important issues this past month and the news has not been welcome. First it was India’s dismal rank in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017 released by the International Policy Research Institute rankings — 100th among 119 countries. GHI looks at undernourishment, child...

-The Telegraph A distinguished Ugandan social scientist of Indian origin,whom I happened to meet earlier this month at an academic conference, told me that Narendra Modi's demonetization reminded him of the fiat in 1972 of the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, that all Asians should quit Uganda within a period of three months. His analogy, of course, would be considered inapposite for an obvious reason: expelling people from their places of domicile,...

-The Hindu Economic growth alone is not enough to achieve key Sustainable Development Goals. It must translate into jobs for the poor and marginalised India is the fastest growing large economy in the world today. Despite this, one in every five Indians is poor. Multilateral agencies as well as governments are playing an active role in understanding problems relating to poverty and hunger and finding solutions to them. But these challenges are...

-Scroll.in The Global Hunger Index ranks India a poor 97 among 118 countries. The many government schemes to feed India's poor and hungry do not seem to be doing much. The International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington has ranked India 97 among 118 countries on the Global Hunger Index. India fared worse than all its neighbours – China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – except Pakistan, which is ranked 107. The Global...