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Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) prospects remain gloomy in 2009, though flows to developing and transition economies, where global economic downturn had lagged effect, held up with 17 per cent growth at 621 billion dollars in 2008, raising their share of total FDI flows to 43 per cent for the first time.

A delegation of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj led by its President, Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary at the invitation of European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), an organ of the European Commission, met the top European leader at Cladriges Hotel on Wednesday, September 23, 2009.

Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old student from a Mumbai suburb who was accused of being a terrorist collaborator and shot dead by the Gujarat police outside Ahmedabad in June 2004, has joined the thousands of people who become victims of fake or staged “encounters” year after year, like in the Batla House case last year. After what appears to be a fair and impartial examination of forensic reports, including ballistics records, and other evidence, Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate SP Tamang has concluded that “Ishrat was murdered in a systematic manner, cold-bloodedly, mercilessly and cruelly. ..” after being illegally detained for three days.

“Nishastan, Guftan, Barkhastan”(Meet, talk and disperse). The Persian saying which omits a vital aspect can aptly be applied to the Akali Dal's Vichaar Sammelan held at Shimla last week. What it omits is mentioning of hospitality. The three-day Akali conclave bridged this gap with five-star stay and lavish hospitality which its participants were treated with during their stay in Shimla's salubrious environs. The conclave, however, failed to introspect and discuss the grave problems Punjab and the ruling party are facing and take concrete decisions to remedy the situation.

The sudden change in the political scene so soon after the parliamentary poll results has upset the calculations of virtually all the political parties. The unexpected reversal in the fortunes of Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan means that the Bihar scene today is quite different from what it was only a few months ago.

New York: The global economic crisis continues to push millions of the world's most vulnerable people into poverty, hunger and early death, a new United Nations report warns, stressing that “green shoots” of recovery are not being felt by the poor in the developing world.

New York: Investing in agriculture alone will not solve the food crisis, a United Nations independent expert said, calling for stepped-up political will to address structural flaws in global food production, which is at the crux of the current emergency.

There seems to be a competition among ministries in India about setting up of an autonomous regulator for genetically modified (GM) products replacing the existing Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) which is presently functioning under the Union ministry for environment and forests. The stated design of the proposals of these ministries is to ensure safety of GM products. But unfortunately this serious issue is turning out to be like - much ado about nothing.

NEW DELHI: The decision of the national convention of central trade union organisations of all affiliations led by the INTUC, to observe a nationwide protest on October 28, 2009, to compel the Central Government to modify its anti-labour policy and practices, marks an historic development in the post-Independence labour movement.

Mamata Banerjeee is going to be a much bigger headache for the Congress. First it was suspicion, then fear and now challenge. As Trinamul Congress workers boisterously celebrate one victory after another, there is a deep sense of worry among the Congress strategists over the very existence of the party in West Bengal . For the uninitiated, this may look queer. But that is the logic of power play if the Mamata sweep gathers further momentum in the coming months.