A higher order of political leadership, a transparent and accountable bureaucracy and activist citizen forums are imperative for effectively addressing hunger and poverty in India, N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, said on Sunday. Addressing a policy forum at the international conference on “Eliminating hunger and poverty” hosted by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Mr. Murthy said the dark side of India's growth story had been...
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Waiting for second revolution
After failing to come anywhere near the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07) target of 4 per cent per annum rate of growth of agricultural output, the Planning Commission has projected a lower target growth rate of 3 to 3.5 per cent per annum for the 11th Plan period. While some may view this as a more modest target, others may consider it as still far too ambitious, given the track...
More »Bihar sees a growing tribe of rural migrants by Pallavi Singh
Amipur may be a small dot along the national highway from Patna to Nawada, but its ambitions are big. In the 50-odd households in the village, sparsely populated and rife with an uneasy quiet, most men have left for work outside Bihar. Siyaram Chauhan is the one who returned. He was rescued last month by the state government officials from a brick kiln in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich where he worked as...
More »Food Security In Crisis Soon by Rashme Seghal
Agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan has warned that India’s food security is being steadily imperilled by the sharp decline in agricultural growth. Speaking on the Ministry of Earth Sciences Foundation Day Lecture 2010, Dr Swaminathan warned that in 2005-6, the agricultural growth was 5.2 per cent of GDP but according to Planning Commission statistics, it has dipped to 0.2 per cent in 2009-10. This would decline with a projected two degree temperature rise...
More »More agricultural investment vital to combat hunger in Asia-Pacific, says UN official
The Asia-Pacific region – home to two-thirds of the world’s one billion malnourished people – must see growth in agricultural investment to tackle the hunger challenge, a senior United Nations official stressed today. The number of hungry people in Asia and the Pacific climbed by more than 60 million in 2009 to 642 million, Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said in a video message...
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