Sugarcane growers from across the State congregated in Bangalore on Tuesday and took out a protest rally seeking a fair and remunerative price for their produce. Around 800 protesters, under the aegis of the Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers’ Association, gathered in front of R.C. College on Palace Road and shouted slogans against Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and Minister for Agricultural Marketing and Sugar Shivaraj Thangadagi. Addressing the farmers who had come from...

The high prices of essential commodities are expected to decline by the end of the rabi season in the next two months, Vijay Shankar Vyas, member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said here on Tuesday. “Food inflation would come down by March-April as we are expecting a good rabi production this year,” Dr. Vyas told journalists on the sidelines of the launch of a publication on agriculture, Millions Fed,...

Despite progress on many fronts to improve global health, the world still faces persistent challenges, from insufficient funding and capacity to the resistance by many to make needed lifestyle changes, the head of the United Nations health agency warned today. “Persuading people to adopt healthy behaviours is one of the biggest challenges in public health,” UN World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan told the agency’s Executive Board at the...

Hit by soaring food inflation, the government moved into urgent damage control mode on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepping into the frame and deciding to meet chief ministers to urge stronger anti-hoarding measures and improved lifting and distribution of foodgrains. The Centre plans to quickly release 2-3 million tonnes of wheat and rice in the retail market, using its own agencies like NAFED and NCCF besides PDS outlets....

Government sat on grain stocks while food prices shot up   In july 2008, when inflation rose to a 10-year high of 11 per cent and industry was hit by a range of factors, including economic recession, the Union government responded immediately. There were day-on-day monetary interventions. Since July 2009, inflation, as calculated by the prices poor consumers pay for their daily needs, has hovered around 11 per cent, again a 10-year...