-The United Nations A sustained rise in prices for raw natural resources and basic agricultural goods is defying long-standing patterns and appears to be hurting poor nations through rising food and fuel costs more than it is helping them through higher revenues for their commodities exports. That was one of the findings of the Commodities and Development Report 2012, a study launched at the 13th session of the UN Conference on Trade...
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Starving in India: A Fight for Life in Bihar-Ashwin Parulkar
BANWARA, India – In the fall of 2006, Gita Devi was pregnant with her sixth child when her family fell on hard times. A severe drought made it more difficult than ever to find farm work here in India’s northeastern plains. The family couldn’t afford food. It was unable to get a government ration card to buy grains and rice at steep discounts, even though it clearly was poor enough to...
More »What hit this land of plenty?-Sai Manish
75% of the youth. Every third student. 65% of all families in Punjab are in the throes of a sweeping drug addiction. With little or no hope in sight. THE RAILWAY barrier in Angarh, a locality in the border city of Amritsar in Punjab signals the end of too many things. The rule of law. The reign of sense. The fear of crime. The signs of normality. Even the divisions of...
More »Protests mark 10th anniversary of Bt cotton-Gargi Parsai
Protests marked the 10th anniversary of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) Bt cotton in the country. Angry farmers urged parliamentarians to hold a special session to discuss the issue and ban the technology. Charging a few seed companies, particularly Monsanto, with monopolising the seed industry and setting the agenda for the government, social activists urged policy-makers and farmers to reject the hype around Bt cotton and demanded a comprehensive review....
More »209 Vidarbha farmers committed suicide in 2011
-PTI As many as 209 farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in 2011 due to agrarian reasons, Parliament was informed on Monday. A total of 275 farmers had ended their lives in Vidarbha region in 2010, as per the figures included in the rehabilitation package, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. Pawar said 565 farmers committed suicide in the Vidarbha region in 2006, while...
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