-The Times of India SYDNEY: World Food Programme executive director Ertharin Cousin said she is in talks with the Indian government and states to explore food vouchers for the poor facing starvation and malnourishment. Cousin said vouchers are important in taking food to those who face shortage. "We are talking to India on how food vouchers can be used to make food available to the vulnerable groups," she told TOI on the...

-The Hindu Business Line A Budget for agriculture A Budget is, generally speaking, a poor instrument for correcting food inflation. But this one conveys a clear intent to target the economic roots of the malaise by addressing supply side concerns. It also takes a long-term view of issues affecting the sector, transcending short-term production concerns. On the demand side, the simple economic response of reducing consumption can hardly apply, without compromising on nutrition....

-Down to Earth System of crop intensification, specially in rice, has shown sizeable savings in water and seed usage. Yet its adoption has not spread despite incentives SIMPLE TECHNIQUES and manag-ement practices tend to be viewed with suspicion. In the age of input-intensive agriculture which calls for an array of machinery and a host of scientific props, a crop management system whose core basically is protecting the plant's roots to provide better...

-The Hindu   The national discourse is so superficial that it only talks of foreign direct investment, investment allowance, tax sops and the like which are just about a twentieth to a sixth of the national economy. It did not even notice paragraph 102 in the Union budget speech which is about half of India's economy. Commentators see facts hidden in budgets as the "devil's in the detail." This presumes that only...

-The Hindu   The urban future depends on making cities intelligent, and that applies equally to both new and old parts of the city Smart cities, the flagship project of the Bharatiya Janata Party's urban vision, have received a firm financial allocation in the Union budget. The government has provided Rs.7,060 crore to build 100 smart cities as satellite towns on the outskirts of large cities to accommodate the burgeoning urban population. Foreign...