IN
FOCUS
Food: Crisis of Availability or Affordability?
“It is certainly a troubling instance of price instability in
international commodity markets, leading to social unrest among
urban food-buyers. But we must be careful not to equate high
crop prices with hunger around the world. Most of the world's hungry
people do not use international food markets, and most of those who use
these markets are not hungry.
The food crisis in India is not the result of a policy failure. It's a
fallout of the international situation, where global food stocks have
gone down, with grain being diverted from food to animal feed;
energy-intensive methods in industrialised nations have made
agriculture costly, and climate change has made conditions uncertain.
These are factors our Indian government has no control over.
"We must develop agriculture that is less dependent on fossil fuels,
favours the use of locally available resources and explores the use of
natural processes such as crop rotation and use of organic fertilisers."
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FOOD
<Related
Articles -APRIL 2008
issue> |
- Rising
food prices threaten poverty reduction: WB ,
 Infochange
India News, 14 Apr 2008
- HUNGRY
& ANGRY,
The
Hindustan Times, 16 Apr 2008
- The
food crisis begins to bite,
Jerome
Taylor and Andrew Buncombe, The Independent, 25 Apr 2008
- 'The
days of cheap food are over': M S Swaminathan, Rashme Sehgal,
Infochange India, 01 Apr 2008
- Grain
drain, Raj Chengappa with Ramesh Vinayak, INDIA TODAY
MAGAZINE, 11 JUN 2007
- It's
not the price that causes hunger, -by Robert Paarlberg, Tuesday, http://www.iht.com, April 22, 2008
- Indian
Food Crisis?, Mukesh Ray, Countercurrents, 28
Apr 2008
- Government
panic stokes inflation, Swaminathan S Anklesaria
Aiyar, The Times of India, Mumbai, 06 Apr 2008
- Gene
therapy , Henry Miller, The Guardian, 16 Apr 2008
- It's
a challenge for the State,
MS Swaminathan, DNA,
Mumbai, 30 Mar 2008
- Change
in farming can feed world , John Vidal
, The Guardian, 16 Apr 2008
- You
pay more for grain, but farmer gets less,
Amit Bhattacharya, The Times
of India, Mumbai, 07 Apr 2008
- 'Asia
will become food importer',
The Asian Age, Mumbai, 03 Apr 2008
- America
eats 5 times more than India ,
Subodh Varma, The Times of India, Mumbai,
04 May 2008
<OTHER
ARTICLES RELATED TO FOOD >
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In
Focus
Food:
Crisis of Availability or Affordability?
Is
there a global food crisis unravelling? World food reserves are
reported to be at their lowest in 25 years and the food prices at a
record high.
Concern
BHOPAL:
The continuing Tragedy
Twenty-three
years after the night of the foulest act of corporate
irresponsibility in history, the people of Bhopal still await
justice.
NEWS BRIEFS
a)
Status
of generation next
Despite
three decades of state sponsored child welfare schemes, every second
toddler in the country suffers from malnutrition and is underweight.
b) Employment
Guarantee Extended
The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is now extended to
all 604 districts in the country.
c) People
against Forests?
The
Forest Rights Act is under attack, facing at least five petitions
against it in various courts.
d) Abetting
in Crime?
“The
state is abetting in crime”, the Supreme Court observed while
coming down heavily on the Chattisgarh government for promoting the
Salva Judum.
e) More
Power to RTI
The
government is putting in place a Rs.300 crore plan in the next five
years to make the Right to Information Act accessible and ensure
transparency.
f)
Counter
Claims on Climate Change
A
new report on climate change claims that reducing green house
emissions will undermine the capacity of the poor to address the
problems they face.
g)
Debating
Public Interest
Public
Interest Litigation (PIL) has come under criticism. One that it is
ineffective and two, that it is an encroachment on the domain of the
executive.
h) Partners
in Dispossession
A
proposal for an income-sharing strategy to compensate oustees from
SEZs and make them primary stakeholder partners rather than one-time
beneficiaries is on the anvil.
i)
GM
Crops under scanner
The
Supreme Court has directed the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee
(GEAC) to monitor genetically modified food items.
j)
Promise
of water
The
Constitution makes it mandatory for the state to provide potable
water to its citizens, a duty that remains on paper for many to this
day.
k)
Affirming
Affirmative Action
Twenty
seven per cent quota reserved for socially and educationally backward
classes or OBCs, in centrally-funded institutions of higher education
is upheld by the Supreme Court.
l)
Legitimacy
of Conversion
The
anti-conversion bill passed by the BJP govt in Rajasthan brings into
focus the issue of `forced conversions’
m)
The
power to Control
“Governments
have great power over NGOs through the laws they enact or administer.
They can either help or hinder them."
n)
The
Future is Organic?
From
the tea gardens in Assam to the killing fields of Vidarbha, organic
alternatives are showing the way for a better future.
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FOOD
DISASTERS
CHILDREN
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
PEOPLE & FORESTS
HUMAN
RIGHTS
RIGHT TO INFORMATION
CLIMATE
CHANGE
LAW &
JUDICIARY
DISPLACEMENT
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
POLITICS OF WATER
RESERVATIONS
COMMUNALISM/PAROCHIALISM
CIVIL SOCIETY
ALTERNATIVES
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LAST
PAGE
First
Anniversary: Detention and Dr.Sen
The
unethical detention of Dr. Binayak Sen is one of the many glaring
examples of state repression. On May 14th 2008, it will be one year
since Dr. Sen was arrested.
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HUMAN
RIGHTS
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