-The Telegraph A government laboratory has detected cancer-causing fungal toxins exceeding safety limits in samples of ultra-high-temperature processed milk, suggesting that a contamination problem highlighted eight years ago remains unresolved. Scientists at the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, have found a compound called aflatoxin M1, a fungal product labelled a carcinogen, in about 20 per cent of the samples of UHT milk they examined. Earlier studies in India over the past...

-PTI Against the backdrop of drought in various parts of the country, a proposal to raise the number of assured employment days under MNREGA from 100 to 150 will be considered by an empowered group of ministers next week with an aim of benefitting the farm labour. "The proposal to increase work days under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) scheme, will come up for discussion in the meeting of the...

-The Hindu Business Line India can learn from Brazil’s Bolsa Familia and China’s Gansu Programme to make refinements to its MGNREGA scheme. The development experiences of Brazil, China and India provide a valuable opportunity to understand the relationship between growth and distribution over periods of high rates of growth. The growth story playing out in all the three emerging economies have resulted in large regional as well as spatial inequalities, between rural and...

-World Food Programme Global food prices have taken a worrying turn as drought in the United States causes grain prices to surge. In the latest episode of the Food Factor Podcast, we spoke with WFP’s Deputy Director of Food Security Analysis Arif Husain to find out what the third food-price shock in five years means for the fight against hunger. * What are the main factors behind rising food prices this year? The...

-The Business Standard Cautious optimism about the revival of the monsoon  A progressive improvement in the monsoon, after a dismal June that saw rainfall deficient by over 30 per cent, has eased some worries over kharif crop production. Since then the rainfall deficit has been halved to 15 per cent, dispelling fears of a situation as bad as in 2009, when severe drought lowered foodgrain production by seven per cent. In addition,...