The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The us food and drug administration (fda) may soon have to be notified before food is imported or even offered for import into the country. The fda has mooted this proposal to prevent the chances of terrorists bringing in contaminated food. The proposed regulation is considered a key step in …
a survey currently underway in states to calculate the number of below poverty line (bpl) households is being opposed tooth and nail by civil society groups under the 'right to food' campaign. They are objecting to the exercise on two counts: firstly, the criteria used for poverty estimation are incorrect; …
This report seeks to describe the context and process of global climate change, its actual or likely impacts on health, and how human societies and their governments should respond with particular focus on the health sector.
Kuttimathan's search for sustainable development started way back in 1987, when he started work as a guide for scientists from Kerala's Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (tbgri) in Agasthyar Hills. He informed these scientists about the many secrets of the herb Trichopus zeylanicus, known in local parlance as aarogyapacha. …
for those rallying against the entry of genetically modified (gm) mustard in India, there is good news. At least for the time being. After mulling over the issue of granting permission for cultivation of transgenic mustard in India for long, the Union government has now decided to postpone the approval. …
at a time when the country is yet to recover from the impact of a drought and the consequent problem of hunger, the Union government has proposed to revise the grain bank scheme. Ironically, what could have been an effective instrument to weed out starvation from India"s most poverty stricken …
A threat to food security looms large over east and central Africa. The insect which causes the cassava mosaic disease is rapidly spreading around the western side of Lake Victoria in Tanzania and parts of Congo. Experts warn that the affliction is threatening the livelihoods of many people whose daily …
Water is a critical issue in Afghanistan. The country receives less than 300 millimetres of rain each year and shares all its river basins with neighbouring countries. Twenty-three years of conflict have left its water infrastructure system shattered. And drought over the last five years aggravated the situation. Today, only …
The Sen committee has evolved an effective formula to compensate farmers who will get lower msp. According to it, the difference between the current msps and the lower cost of production-based msps, multiplied by the average of three years' procurement figures, will be ploughed back as direct income support for …
it is a paradox that has stumped the Union government. On the one hand, the central task force is flooded with requests for aid as the drought devastates state after state (12 at the last count). And, on the other, the country is saddled with a huge surplus stock of …
The European Union (eu) has proposed to amend the 40-year-old Common Agricultural Policy (cap). Under the proposal, subsidies will be granted to farmers on the basis of their observing public health, safety and environmental norms. This is in contrast to the existing system wherein farmers receive sops on the basis …
Rice is the staple food for much of the third world. Needless to say, improvement in its yield and quality would go a long way towards establishing food security. To know and understand its genome structure and function is the first step that the scientific community is taking in this …
death is a seasonal visitor to Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh's largest district and wasteland. It comes just before sowing and after the harvest of groundnut, a cash crop that occupies 91 per cent of land in the district. More than 100 groundnut farmers have committed suicide since the last two years …
Rabindra Nath Mishra, an additional block development officer, is a bit worried. He thought calculating Phulbani's poor, as directed by the Supreme Court, would be easy. The expenditure limit of Rs 250 per month (as the decisive line between poverty and prosperity) seemed a ridiculous amount. But when the final …
when Bhuna Bhil of Pathara village in Dungarpur ran away from the communal carnage in Gujarat, he faced a dilemma: what would he do back in his village? It had already exhausted all his sources of livelihood. Known as the 20th century desert, Dungarpur's 68 per cent population has been …
Poverty in Sarguja district has taken epic proportions. Unlike in the Mahabharat, the descendants of Pandavas and Kauravas have come together to fight a common enemy in Sarguja: poverty. And their fight is as heroic as the Mahabharat. Pandos, the local tribals and descendants of the Pandavas, are fighting for …
