-The United Nations World food prices rose for a second straight month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today said, while global production of coarse grains could set a new record this year with strong growth also projected for global wheat and rice production. FAO's Food Price Index - which measures monthly changes in international prices of a basket of meat, dairy, cereals, oils and fats, and sugar - rose...

A recent statistical study by Indian researchers suggest that the MNREGA program in rural Andhra Pradesh might be having a positive effect on school enrolment and grades by improving the bargaining power of women within their household, as a consequence of earning wages in the rural job security program. The study is based on data from rural households in 5 districts in Andhra Pradesh and comprised of 3006 children, comparing...

-The Hindu Bhubaneswar: Posco India on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court's order in the Khandadhar iron ore mine case and hoped the verdict would expedite its proposed project in Odisha. "We welcome the judgment by the Supreme Court on the Khandadhar mining case. Once we receive the copy of the full judgment, we will be in a better position to comment upon. However, we believe that this will significantly help to expedite...

-The Hindu Business Line Mother Nature possesses bountiful natural resources. After all, it is not for nothing that our planet is today supporting a seven billion human population, besides a large number of other living beings with varying survival requirements. Till around the end of the 19th century, agriculture, in the form it was practised, provided more or less enough food to sustain the human population of that time. This is...

-The Hindu   Last week's jail sentence for two prominent Shiv Sainiks is historic as it upholds the first such conviction against a member of that party Sent to jail for two months and fined Rs.5,000. Twenty years after their crime, this was the sentence handed down last week by a sessions court to two Shiv Sena leaders. This was for their provocative speeches during the Mumbai riots following the demolition of the...