World Bank president Robert Zoellick recently listed nine measures that the G20 should adopt under its current French presidency. These range from improving information about grain stocks and developing better weather-forecasting methods to strengthening social safety nets for the poor and helping small farmers benefit from tenders from humanitarian purchasers such as the World Food Programme . These measures tackle only the symptoms of the global food system's weaknesses, leaving the...

Another name for Chhattisgarh is ' Dhan ka katora' or 'Rice Bowl'. There is an amazing variety of rice being grown across the region in Central India, largely dominated by tribal communities. This is a land blessed by the bounty of nature and has a combination of soil, water and temperature, which lends itself well to the cultivation of this all-important foodgrain. Yet all this amounts to very little today and...

Activist Simpreet Singh received the national RTI council award instituted by Arvind Kejriwal's Public Cause Research Foundation on behalf of the National Alliance for Peoples Movement (NAPM) which uses the RTI Act to expose fraud and misappropriation of public assets. NAPM used the RTI Act to investigate Adarsh, the tower meant for Kargil war widows, but usurped by state bureaucrats, politicians and defence personnel who had no role to play...

The southern Indian state of Kerala has passed a new law that will allow people to seek compensation from the soft-drink giant Coca-Cola. The company is mired in controversy over its bottling operation in Palakkad district, which campaigners say has caused environmental damage. They say it has also led to a severe water shortage in the area. Coca-Cola's Indian subsidiary - Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) - has rejected the charges. In a statement, it...

The Kerala Assembly has passed a landmark law that makes Coca-Cola liable for damages of up to Rs 216 crore for alleged pollution and exploitation of groundwater at its bottling plant in northern Palakkad district. A committee appointed by the state government has quantified the loss caused by the plant to the local community at Rs 216 crore since the soft drinks maker set up the unit in arid Plachimada. The previous...