New Delhi: Amid the debate on a proposed legislation on food security, the Planning Commission has suggested the adoption of a variable trade policy wherein import and export tariffs could be imposed to ensure an adequate food stock to meet any exigency.

June 30: Cautioning the Centre against hasty implementation of the ambitious "Food Security Act", Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday suggested that any move to impose "ceiling on the number of BPL families" would be self-defeating.

Brinda Karat

The proposed Food Security Act is flawed. The PDS should be made universal, as it was prior to the targeted system introduced in the 1990s as part of the neo-liberal agenda.

Deficient rains imply not only a drop in crop production and consequently incomes, but also a serious shortage of drinking water and animal fodder, resulting in rural-urban migration and growing pressure on urban spaces.

Invests US $4 billion to lease land in Ethiopia INDIA is leasing land in Ethiopia to grow food to meet its domestic demand and boost exports. The government invested US $4 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) on agriculture, horticulture and sugar estates in the African country where land is cheap. This is a fallout of the economic crisis and jump in food prices, said US-based research agency, the

patent Human genes create stir in US About 100,000 cancer patients, doctors, researchers and lawyers sued the US government for granting patents for two human genes. They said the patents deny women with breast and ovarian cancer the benefit of new tests and possible treatment. A company or an institution that owns patents for genes has specific rights to their use, which may