KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

-Down to Earth blog Palm oil is water-intensive and requires large patches of land India is the second-largest consumer of edible oil globally and its largest importer. While the government has taken several initiatives over the years to increase the domestic production of edible oils, its shortage and high price are often in the news. Palm oil production grew between 2015-2016 and 2020-2021 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.1 per cent,...

-Hindustan Times India is the world's biggest importer of palm oil and relies on Indonesia for nearly half of the 700,000 tonnes it takes every month. Indonesia President Joko Widodo's drastic measures to control food prices by banning palm oil exports have come into effect from Thursday. India is the world's biggest importer of palm oil and relies on Indonesia for nearly half of the 700,000 tonnes it takes every month. Palm...

-Business Standard/ Agencies The country meets almost 45% of India's annual palm oil demand; media reports say ban put in place to check soaring domestic prices of the commodity In what could have a devastating impact on edible oil prices and supplies in India, Indonesia, which is the world’s largest producer of palm oil and meets nearly 45 per cent of the total palm oil supplied into India annually, has decided to...

-Down to Earth Ganoderma lucidum has over 400 chemical constituents with medicinal properties Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom in use for centuries to heal diseases like diabetes, cancer, inflammation, ulcer as well as bacterial and skin infections. In India, however, the potential of the fungus is still being explored.  It is considered one of the most important medicinal mushrooms in the world since its chemical constituents exhibit numerous medicinal properties. They have...