RUSUTSU: The leaders of top industrialised countries focused on two of the world's main concerns on Tuesday

Allaying fears of a high foodgrain inflation due to global problems, Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen on Thursday said India is insulated against any such crisis, at least in the near future. "Foodgrain inflation in India is under control... In the last three years, our foodgrain production has increased by 30 million tonnes to 230 million tonnes. The wheat stock with the government is likely to go up by at least four million tonnes this year,' Mr Sen said here at a meeting on food inflation. He, however, said much needs to be done at the global level to increase grain output.

Author and environmentalist Lester R. Brown tells Nandini Nairour civilisation is at risk Run off Lester Brown (bottom) warns against melting icebergs He might bring doom's day prophecies with him. But he offers solutions as well. Environmentalist Lester R. Brown was in the Capital's Taj Mahal hotel recently for the launch of the Hindi version of his book, "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilisation' (W.W Norton & Company).

During the last American food-and-gas-price crisis, in the 1970s, one of my colleagues on the Berkeley student newspaper told me that he and his semi-communal housemates had taken a vote. They'd calculated they could afford meat or coffee. They chose coffee.

Washington: The World Bank on Tuesday put the blame for rising food prices in South Asia on export controls by India and others. The US also criticized New Delhi's handling of the crisis, stating the trade bans have rattled international markets. Surging food prices have become a serious concern in South Asia where food insecurity is relatively high, the World Bank Report on Global Development Finance said. "The situation has become increasingly acute across the region

David Streitfeld and Keith Bradsher In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of per

On 5 June humankind celebrated World Environment Day. But underlining the merrymaking were issues of grave environmental concern. Which are going to challenge our future, specially food shortage, poverty and environment degradation.

Food is the first among the hierarchical needs of a human being and this is likely to be the worst sufferer under conditions of global warming and sea level rise Prof M.S. Swaminathan

MNCs Dealing In Seeds, Foodgrains, Fertilizers Flourish

Agriculture secre tary Edward T. Schafer is preparing to walk into a buzzsaw of criticism over American biofuels policy when he meets with world leaders to discuss the global food crisis next week. Mr Schafer took the offensive at a press conference on Thursday that discussed the food summit, planned for Rome. He said an analysis by the agriculture depart ment had determined that biofuel production was responsible for only 2 to 3 per cent of the increase in global food prices, while biofuels had reduced consumption of crude oil by a million barrels a day.