-The Business Standard   Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can be assertive when he chooses to. He has certainly imposed his will on the government to push the case for the controversial genetically-modified (GM) food crops. Documents reviewed by Business Standard show, for almost two years, Singh and his office have been the moving force behind the decision to go ahead with field trials of GM crops, including food crops, without awaiting regulatory reforms...

-The Hindu     TIRUCHI: The day-long workshop on "Food without preservatives" featured two sessions - one on grandma's recipes and the other on importance of millets for effective functioning of the brain and body. The importance of consuming healthy food without preservatives and the benefits of using millets in one's daily diet were explained to parents (mothers) of autistic children during the one-day workshop on "Autism vs. food" organised at Pravaag Transitional Centre...

-The Hindu UAS-B says its millet bread is ideal for diabetics Bangalore (Karnataka): There is some good news for those who are looking for a healthier option for bread made of refined wheat flour (maida). A team of nutritionists of the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bangalore has developed "non-junk" bread. This bread is made of nutrient-rich minor millets. Head of the university's Food Sciences and Nutrition Department H.B. Shivaleela, who was part of the research...

A new report by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) reveals that despite the nutritional value of millets, otherwise known as coarse cereals*, there has been a drastic reduction in the area under its cultivation from 36.34 million hectares in 1955-56 to 18.6 million hectares in 2011-12 thanks to the wrong agricultural and price policies adopted by the Government (see table 1, and the links below). Based on previous National...

-Down to Earth Faced with crop losses because of erratic rainfall and extreme weather, tribal farmers of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh turn to bewar and penda forms of cultivation that keeps them nourished all times of the year, but government agencies are bent on rooting out these farm practices Hariaro Bai Deoria should have been a worried person this year-an untimely spell of rain late last October flattened her paddy crop, and...