Even as the Centre is mulling over allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, Union Agriculture and Food Processing Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday categorically ruled out the possibility of FDI in farming. “FDI in agriculture is not required. We have about 82-86 per cent farmers whose land-holding is below two hectares. In this type of a situation where the land-holding is small, we should not think of encouraging...

In a few days from now, women could account for 52 per cent of all local bodies. They are tailors, farmers, accountants, legal clerks, homemakers, vendors and activists. There are M.Com degree holders alongside poor women from deprived backgrounds. Together, they make up the most highly educated women candidates fighting local body elections anywhere in the country. There are nearly 40,000 of them contesting the polls across more than 1,200...

Despite erratic and unevenly distributed monsoon this year, the government has predicted that food production in the state will touch 90.94 lakh tonnes in 2010-11. Agriculture minister Umesh V Katti on Tuesday said this year's production will surpass the target of 87.27 lakh tonnes. "This will be made possible by implementing technologies like precision farming and timely distribution of quality seeds," he pointed out. EXPERT PANEL ON CARDS The government will soon set...

The method of selection of Information Commissioners cries out for reform. FOR the Right to Information (RTI) Act to be successful, it is not enough if it has provisions that encourage information-sharing and punish those Information Officers who deny requests for information on specious grounds. Activists have found that while deciding appeal cases the degree of commitment of Information Commissioners to the Act's objectives matters more than the supportive provisions of...

Opposing the current practice of appointing retired bureaucrats as information commissioners, RTI activists on Thursday demanded that future appointments take place through open advertisement with applicants giving a detailed application form and a presentation to be screened by a high level committee. Advocating an open and transparent process for appointment of information commissioners, RTI activists said persons of eminence in public life should be selected. MKSS leader and social activist...