-The Times of India Sixty-six years after independence, India has the dubious distinction of being home to half the number of modern day slaves in the world. The first Global Slavery Index has estimated that 13.3 to 14.7 million people live like slaves in the country - roughly equal to the population of Kolkata. The index, published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, ranked 162 countries based on three factors that include...

-The United Nations Efficient, well-managed and sustainable food systems are essential to end hunger and malnutrition as well as protect the environment, United Nations officials stressed today, marking World Food Day. "The key to better nutrition, and ultimately to ensuring each person's right to food, lies in better food systems - smarter approaches, policies and investments encompassing the environment, people, institutions and processes by which agricultural products are produced, processed and brought...

-The Times of India In a striking irony, the number of hungry people in the world was estimated at 842 million in 2011-13 by the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report released on Monday even as world cereal production was estimated at a near record level of 2,489 million metric tons a few days ago. About a quarter of the world's hungry, or 210 million, are in India alone. The number of hungry...

-Current Science The developing world faces the tough task of producing adequate food to meet the demands of its burgeoning population, as yield levels of major crops have struck a plateau. Food and nutrition security being the major concerns, agricultural R&D in less-developed countries is at the crossroads. The earlier days, when the benefits from the technological breakthroughs attained by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research institutes and the public...

-Outlook The faecal matter hits the rotary blades, politically-but we're still staring at a sanitation disaster "Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate mostly besides the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the river banks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover." -V.S. Naipaul An Area of Darkness, 1964 Not...