Non-governmental organizations are making a difference to the lives of poor and marginalized people in India. Most work in geographically limited areas. They are idealistic and want change, and hope to enter the lives of those they work with. Funding agencies and NGOs are enthused by any sign of change in the long-failed state of Bihar. A virulent and discriminatory caste system that deprives the lower castes even of government-funded...

HAS GREEN REVOLUTION FAILED INDIA'S POOR? Green Revolution Vs Rain-fed Farming OVERVIEW: Of late India’s fabled Green Revolution has come under severe attack. Many development thinkers believe that it has unfairly skewed India’s agriculture policy in favour of the farmers whose land is already or potentially covered under irrigation. The basic criticism is that the Green Revolution has been largely irrelevant for India’s 60 per cent cultivable land which is un-irrigated. These...

Food prices are rising at a rate that neither consumers nor politicians can afford. On this, there is consensus. But on the more substantive question as to what should be done about it, there is more silence than disagreement. The Opposition wants to blame the government, the government wants to shift the blame to the states. But ultimately, there is only so much that food management can do when there...

Unprecedented rise in potato prices pushes up inflation  Food inflation soared to 15.58 per cent for the week ended November 14 in the wake of an unprecedented rise in the prices of potato and other essential items. Official data based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) released here on Thursday for the week revealed that while potato prices have more than doubled in the past 12 months, other basic food...

AT THE recent food summit in Rome, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva donned a pair of bright-red boxing gloves labelled “Hunger Free” and waved to the cameras. They were his prize—if that is the right term—for Brazil’s success in topping a league table drawn up by ActionAid, a British charity, of countries that have done most to reduce hunger*. The occasion was a stunt, of course, but had a...