The joint report by UN Economic Commission for Europe and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation released on Tuesday said that consumption, production and trade of forest products reached record highs in 2006, with a slight downturn registered in 2007. That decline accelerated in 2008, marking the sharpest drop since the first oil shock of 1973, and continued into the first half of this year, it said.
Reacting sharply to the Global Hunger Report 2021, the Women and Child Development Ministry said it is 'shocking' to find that it has lowered the rank of India on the basis of FAO estimate on proportion of undernourished population which is found to be 'devoid of ground reality and facts, and suffers from serious methodological issues'.
Increased investment in forestry could provide jobs in areas such as forest management and agro-forestry, improved management of forest fires, development and management of tracking trails and recreation sites in forests, expansion of urban green spaces, restoration of degraded forests and planting new ones. Such activities could be tailored to local circumstances like the availability of labour, skill levels among population and social, economic and ecological conditions.
The latest estimates of global hunger, released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), have projected the number of people going hungry every day to swell to the historic high of 1.02 billion in 2009. Almost all of them, barring a small fraction, will be in the developing countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the adoption of the New Delhi Leaders Declaration, a significant victory for India's G20 presidency that came amid increasing tensions and divergent views over the Ukraine conflict.
'The slaughter and handling of infected poultry poses the greatest risks,' says FAO official Dr Samuel Jutzi.
According to the WHO, Himalayan glaciers are shrinking due to global warming at the rate of 10 to 15 meters per year, which would affect the water supply in India. River Ganga is expected to lose two-third of its July to September flow resulting in change in the productivity of arable land. These changes will in turn affect one-third of India's irrigated land. Water shortage will affect more than 500 million people, it said.
However, India's chances of benefiting from the soaring rates are low following the strengthening of rupee against dollar.
Get more people working, get more people working in modern manufacturing and services in our cities, and get people working better and longer, suggests Naushad Forbes, past president, CII.
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has created a new Internet portal that provides access to a large variety of information and online training materials related to rural finance.
The US has come up with a new WTO proposal to find a permanent solution to food stockpiling.
All civilian drone operations will be restricted only during day time and flying will be restricted within visual line of sight which usually would be 450 metres, the regulation says.
Modi emphasised on deeper India-Africa partnership on clean energy.
Senior officials, including those from a central team, were present during the night-long operation and a close vigil is being maintained on further movement of locusts, Katiyar said. Two fire brigade vehicles loaded with insecticide had been deployed in all four Jhansi tehsils besides six vehicles were kept ready at the district headquarter. Ten municipal employees with two insecticide spraying machines were posted in every block.
Severe cyclonic storm Michaung crossed south Andhra Pradesh coast close to Bapatla district between 12.30 pm and 2.30 pm on Tuesday with maximum gales of up to 90-100 km per hour speed, said an Amaravati Meteorological Centre official.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government will soon take a decision on revising the minimum age of marriage for girls after it receives the report from the committee set up for the purpose.
Wayanad will continue to support Rahul but not to the same extent as in 2019, when his margin of victory had been enormous. Articulate, to the point and speaking in fluent Malayalam, CPI's Annie Raja, had the people who gathered to see her, listening in rapt attention, notes Shyam G Menon.
Now we need to fight back to reclaim our food and our habits. The only way to do so is to rediscover food as pleasure and be thrilled, not just by its smells and tastes, but also by the knowledge it embodies, says Sunita Narain.
A 51-year-old woman member of an NGO from the city was among five Indians on board the Malaysian airliner that is presumed to have crashed into sea off Vietnamese coast and her family is shattered by the news.
Sisi will be the first Egyptian President and the fifth leader from the Middle-East to grace the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest. He is scheduled to arrive in India on January 24.
'Aquaponics can effectively cushion the impact of a calamity like COVID.'
Ambassador Islam A'Isi' Siddiqui -- who recently resigned from his position as chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative -- has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as senior adviser on Global Food Security.
'Everybody was ready to agree with the government if the process to acquire land was a judicious one. All of us want industrialisation and development of the country.'
This is a brief background of the new Cabinet Ministers.
Even as the bilateral relationship between the two neighbouring countries remains hostile, there is growing coordination between India and Pakistan on one multilateral forum - the World Trade Organization (WTO). Both countries have made two joint submissions at the WTO as co-sponsors in the past two months. In June, Pakistan joined India, Cuba, and 44 African countries, seeking sufficient flexibility in intellectual property rights for developing countries to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
'We will be hoisting the tiranga, but this kind of celebration is uncalled for when the farmers in this country are dying by suicides, their families are ravaged by poverty and farmers are not enjoying any freedom.'
India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the world.
WTO's new director has said that the issue needs to be addressed in a positive manner.
Claims of a spike in poverty and inequality in India during the Covid-19 pandemic are patently false as such claims are based on uncomparable different surveys, according to a paper co-authored by eminent economist Arvind Panagariya. The paper also noted that inequality fell in the country during Covid years, both in rural and urban areas as well as nationally. Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former vice chairman of NITI Aayog and Vishal More of Intelink Advisors, New Delhi have co-authored a detailed paper 'Poverty and Inequality in India: Before and After Covid-19'.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had recently backed the agitating farmers in India, saying his country will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests. He had expressed concern over the situation.
These include home, industrial development (mining), justice, labour, excise, environment conservation and climate change, disaster management and rehabilitation and civil aviation.
As hard bargains continue for the next four days at the picturesque tourist resort of Indonesia, the ministers., including from the influential developed countries will try and reach agreements on providing windows to the developing nations for their food security programmes and a pact to free the global trade from the procedural hassles at the customs.
'All imaginary figures are pushed by government bureaucrats.' 'They never showed that the production of wheat was less this time.'
India is among 120 countries which backed the draft resolution put forward by the European Union and several other countries.
A large car caravan of protesters from various parts of California blocked the traffic on the Bay Bridge on Saturday as they moved towards the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, while several hundreds gathered in downtown Indianapolis.
The PM also said that the country does not face problems in farm production but in post-harvest losses and therefore efforts are being made to strengthen post harvest infrastructure facilities and ensure better income for farmers.
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