-The Hoot Buried in a parliamentary committee report is a refutation by villagers of TOI’s controversial stories on BT cotton’s virtues, published in 2008 and reprinted in the paper as paid news in 2011. PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA revisits the saga  Allegations leveled by Palagummi Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu newspaper that its competing daily, the Times of India, published an article at the behest of Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech without disclosing this...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: Scanty rains in cotton-growing regions of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have washed away hopes of hybrid seeds growth in the country. The National Seed Association of India (NSAI) is expecting only a single digit growth between 5-7% against its previous estimate of 20% early this year.  India's hybrid seed industry, which is pegged at Rs 11,000 crore, grew nearly 15% last year. And cotton seed contributes up...

-Tehelka Justice Sujata Manohar on how the Biotechnology Bill is fundamentally flawed IN THE last few years, regulatory systems across the board have been undergoing an overhaul to fit the needs of a new era. Likewise, new laws are being chalked out to meet new needs, and several are receiving flak owing to the loopholes and regressive grounds on which these have been drafted. The relatively more recent one to regulate modern...

Justice Markandey Katju's prescription for a regulated media regime is a misplaced step that can actually de-democratise the fourth estate. IT is open season on the political class and the news media. But then, again, it's more like a chase of one's own tail. A self-righteous, delusional, Anna-Baba NGO-ised fringe sets out to stigmatise politics and Members of Parliament; the news media salivate at the prospect and rush to provide...

PUNE: The cotton export debacle has created an oversupply of Bt seeds in the market with angry farmers expected to plant less area in the coming summer season. Companies are bracing for a price war in branded cotton seed, a far cry from the usual scenario where state governments impose a ceiling on maximum retail prices. Cotton is India's most important farm-produced industrial raw material and contributes a third to the...