- About 26% of our people live below poverty line today who do not have enough money to buy essential food items, often not even for the first meal .
- One of the main reasons why food security has become an important issue today is the
burgeoning population in India. India's present population in 1.3 billion. In terms of
annual household demand, India can see a surge from 168.3 million metric tonnes in 1991 to 343 million metric tonnes in the year 2020. To be able to feed such a huge population, India needs to quickly augment its production and productivity. - Furthermore, India seems to have entered a high growth trajectory in the recent times. For the past four years, Inida witnessed a growth rate of over 9%. As the economy grows, people earn more and one major consequence will be rise in consumption. This increased rate of consumtion usually gets confined to some pockets which lead the emergence of non inclusive consumption trends.
- In india, nearly 70% of the net cultivable land areas are rainfed and these have not
benefited from Green Revolution of 1960's . Of this 70%, about 30% area is under dryland
agriculture where the annual rainfall is upto 40cm. To achieve food security keeping in mind challenges of tommorow, there is a need to bring more and more areas under irrigation. - To meet the growing demand from the bloating population, India needs to adopt a broad
based approach. Areas under productio will have to be increased. This maybe done by
implementing measures like rainwater harvesting, watershed development alongside improvement in irrigation facilities. Adoption of hybrid varieties , especially of transgenic variety of crops may lead to incresed production and productivity.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
FOOD SECURITY IN INDIA
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
European Union set to send fleet to battle Somali pirates
December 3rd 2008
BRUSSELS,Belgiu - A European Union flotilla will begin anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia next week, the EU's foreign policy chief said Wednesday.
The six warships and three maritime reconnaissance aircraft will replace a NATO naval force that has been patrolling the region and escorting cargo ships carrying relief aid to Somalia since the end of October.
Although the NATO ships have successfully delivered nearly 30,000 tons of humanitarian supplies to the impoverished nation, they have not been able to stem the upsurge in pirate attacks on foreign shipping in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.
Foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the EU warships will arrive Monday, and the hand-over with the NATO force will take place Dec. 15.
Officials said France, Greece, Germany and Britain will provide ships for the naval contingent, and France and Italy will provide patrol aircraft.
The task force - codenamed Operation Atalanta - will be the EU's first naval operation. It will have the same duties as the NATO mission, including escorting cargo vessels, protecting merchant ships and deterring pirate attacks.
"These tasks will be done with very robust rules of engagement," Solana told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
The ministers agreed on Monday to ask the U.N. Security Council to clarify the legal issues involved in the anti-piracy effort. They will discuss on Wednesday whether to deploy a follow-up anti-piracy mission to assist the EU ships.
Under the U.N. mandate, the international fleet operating off the Horn of Africa has not been able to board ships seized by the pirates in order to free their hostages.
German Forieign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the EU deployment.
"I think this is necessary, and the past days have shown that the presence on the African coast has already saved a few ships from being hijacked," he said as he arrived for the NATO meeting.
On Tuesday, NATO reported that an Italian destroyer, Luigi Durand de la Penne, prevented the hijacking of five merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden. The destroyer positioned itself between the small pirate boats trying to board the cargo ships and used its helicopter to repel them.
Besides the NATO ships, 10 other warships from United States, India, Russia and Malaysia are patrolling the region at present.
Pirates have attacked 32 vessels and hijacked 12 of them since the NATO operation was launched on Oct. 24. About 50 cargo ships transit daily through the Gulf of Aden, a waterway that links the Indian with the Suex Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
BRUSSELS,Belgiu - A European Union flotilla will begin anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia next week, the EU's foreign policy chief said Wednesday.
The six warships and three maritime reconnaissance aircraft will replace a NATO naval force that has been patrolling the region and escorting cargo ships carrying relief aid to Somalia since the end of October.
Although the NATO ships have successfully delivered nearly 30,000 tons of humanitarian supplies to the impoverished nation, they have not been able to stem the upsurge in pirate attacks on foreign shipping in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.
Foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the EU warships will arrive Monday, and the hand-over with the NATO force will take place Dec. 15.
Officials said France, Greece, Germany and Britain will provide ships for the naval contingent, and France and Italy will provide patrol aircraft.
The task force - codenamed Operation Atalanta - will be the EU's first naval operation. It will have the same duties as the NATO mission, including escorting cargo vessels, protecting merchant ships and deterring pirate attacks.
"These tasks will be done with very robust rules of engagement," Solana told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
The ministers agreed on Monday to ask the U.N. Security Council to clarify the legal issues involved in the anti-piracy effort. They will discuss on Wednesday whether to deploy a follow-up anti-piracy mission to assist the EU ships.
Under the U.N. mandate, the international fleet operating off the Horn of Africa has not been able to board ships seized by the pirates in order to free their hostages.
German Forieign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the EU deployment.
"I think this is necessary, and the past days have shown that the presence on the African coast has already saved a few ships from being hijacked," he said as he arrived for the NATO meeting.
On Tuesday, NATO reported that an Italian destroyer, Luigi Durand de la Penne, prevented the hijacking of five merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden. The destroyer positioned itself between the small pirate boats trying to board the cargo ships and used its helicopter to repel them.
Besides the NATO ships, 10 other warships from United States, India, Russia and Malaysia are patrolling the region at present.
Pirates have attacked 32 vessels and hijacked 12 of them since the NATO operation was launched on Oct. 24. About 50 cargo ships transit daily through the Gulf of Aden, a waterway that links the Indian with the Suex Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
It's about Pakistan's commitment: India
December 22, 2008
India is hardening its stand vis-a-vis Pakistan nearly four weeks after the Mumbai attacks.
"Everything with Pakistan is on pause," a senior official in the Government of India said on Monday.
The Indian government is more or less convinced that the Mumbai attacks have been carried out by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba , which cannot function without the help of Pakistan's establishment.
However, India will wait for the investigations to be completed before making any charges against the Pakistan , the Inter Services Intelligence or elements in the ISI.
In the hardest reaction since the Mumbai attacks, a source told the media that India wants Masood Azhar, head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and others to subject to the Indian judicial system.
The benchmark is being fixed in the form of a firm demand to hand over these terrorists to India.
"Let us see what Pakistan is capable of doing," the official said.
A source said, "Actually, it is not even about Masood Azhar, it is about the commitment of Pakistan. It is about accepting the principle about handing them over to India."
"India's policy is two-fold," he added. "India wants to prevent the reoccurrence of such attacks and two; India wants punishment for the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and previous attacks. Let us see what Pakistan does, we will do what we have to do."
India is hardening its stand vis-a-vis Pakistan nearly four weeks after the Mumbai attacks.
"Everything with Pakistan is on pause," a senior official in the Government of India said on Monday.
The Indian government is more or less convinced that the Mumbai attacks have been carried out by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba , which cannot function without the help of Pakistan's establishment.
However, India will wait for the investigations to be completed before making any charges against the Pakistan , the Inter Services Intelligence or elements in the ISI.
In the hardest reaction since the Mumbai attacks, a source told the media that India wants Masood Azhar, head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and others to subject to the Indian judicial system.
The benchmark is being fixed in the form of a firm demand to hand over these terrorists to India.
"Let us see what Pakistan is capable of doing," the official said.
A source said, "Actually, it is not even about Masood Azhar, it is about the commitment of Pakistan. It is about accepting the principle about handing them over to India."
"India's policy is two-fold," he added. "India wants to prevent the reoccurrence of such attacks and two; India wants punishment for the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and previous attacks. Let us see what Pakistan does, we will do what we have to do."
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