If you are a health food freak who lives on salads and swears by the benefits of organically grown raw vegetables, it's time for a reality check. In 16 countries across the globe, nearly 3,000 people have been sickened and 29 have died after eating raw vegetables contaminated by a group of bacteria collectively called Escherichia coli ( E. coli). Authorities first cited contaminated Spanish cucumbers as the culprit and now...

-The United Nations   More than half of the world’s estimated 215 million child labourers are engaged in hazardous work which puts them risk of injury, Illness or death, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report unveiled today. The report, “Children in hazardous work: what we know, what we need to do,” cites studies from both industrialised and developing countries that indicate that a child labourer suffers...

Rs 3 lakh – that's the price a pharmaceutical company has paid to the family of a person who died in their clinical trial. Others weren't even this lucky. According to the Drug Controller General of India's (DCGI) records, 25 people died in clinical trials carried out by nine pharmaceutical companies in 2010. Families of five of these victims received "compensation for trial related death" — the amount ranging from Rs...

Cash transfers are now suggested by many as a silver bullet for addressing the problems that plague India’s anti-poverty programmes. This article argues instead for evidence-based policy and informed public debate to clarify the place, prospects and problems of cash transfers in India. By drawing on key empirical findings from academic and grey literature across the world an attempt is made to draw attention to three aspects of cash transfers...

It would be sad if the potential of cash transfers was lost as a result of hasty posturing by those on various sides of the debate. The fact is that, in India today, poverty and economic insecurity remain endemic in spite of fantastic economic growth. The existing system has failed to arrest the growing number in poverty, despite substantial government spending ostensibly designed to reduce poverty. Could cash transfers help? A...