Rahul Goswami's Blog (2)

A second wind for economic reforms in India will do nothing for India's agriculture-based populations if their community and livelihood conditions continue to be neglected. A near normal 2009 monsoon can give the new government the support it needs to invest in understanding the economies of cultivator communities. The need to make such an investment has never been more acute, and there is a host of indicators and knowledge available to guide India's vast foodgrain management bureaucracy. This a… Continue

In every one of India's major states, less food is available for growing populations. The first India State Hunger Index shows how much less. Steadily rising inflation until late 2008, high energy costs, urban demands for processed foods and pressure on rural land are all factors that have contributed to hunger being still so visible in India. But state-level data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows a far more alarming trend, that of plateaus in foodgrain harvests and of yields. I've tried to… Continue