Policy Wise

A new study conducted in Punjab by the Chandigarh based Post-Graduate Institute for Medical Education and research has shown high rates of mutated DNA,
Preliminary results from a two-year study commissioned by the Punjab Water Pollution Control Board found mutated DNA in blood samples of 65 percent of the people tested. The study also found high [...]

An interesting story illustrates how global warming can change economic fortunes,
Every four years or so, killing spring frosts hit Quebec, nearly obliterating the year’s harvest around St.-Jean Lake, while Down East Maine, some 563 kilometers, or 350 miles, southeast, reliably produced millions of kilograms a year for use in jams, pie fillings and muffins.
But temperatures [...]

Regular readers would recall that agricultural subsidies hold particular interest for this blogger. While they definitely harm the farmers in the developing countries, do they benefit the West? Or more importantly even its farmers?
Since 1970, farm subsidies have totaled $578 billion, according to the historical tables of the U.S. budget. What has the public [...]

In an interesting post at the Indian Economy blog, Dweep argues that India shouldn’t oppose agricultural subsidies extended by Western countries to their farmers. He offers two main reasons for his argument a) subsidies keep prices low thus benefiting the Indian consumers b) the debate on subsidies shifts the focus away from the failure of [...]

Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has warned that climate change can lead to decrease in food production in India,
Climate change is likely to trigger a “risk of hunger” in India by affecting cereal production by as much as 18% because of floods and droughts, a UN agency has warned.Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said India [...]

Doha round of WTO talks failed primarily because the developed countries couldn’t come to an agreement with the developing countries led by Brazil and India on agricultural subsidies. In an interesting op-ed, Rjiv Kumar argues that India has more at stake in expanding world trade, and hence should be ready to compromise even in the [...]

In a hard hitting editorial, Washington Post asks lawmakers to stop subsidizing rich farmers in America at the cost of African farmers,
Its commodity supports are too often misdirected: High-income farmers collect increasing shares of the largess, and, by The Post’s calculations, between 2000 and 2006 about $1.3 billion went to Americans who do not [...]

The global trade talks have collapsed once again because Europe and America have refused to give up agricultural subsidies.
Kamal Nath, the Indian trade minister, said the United States had offered to cap its domestic agricultural subsidies at $17 billion, considerably lower than the $22 billion it had offered before, but still well above the roughly [...]

With the increasing political instability in the Arab world and the galloping oil prices, there has been increasing emphasis on biofuels to meet the growing energy needs of the world. Even the Bush administration., a key supporter of Big Oil wants to move towards an era of bio fuels and energy Independence.
However, a new U.N [...]

Robert W. Klein is right on the money.
In an effort to expand program participation and reduce disaster aid, the number of insurance-eligible crops and the amount of federal subsidies going to the insurance program have increased dramatically since 1938. This expansion has come at a high cost, even in recent years; from 2000 to [...]