-The Economic Times NAIROBI: In a major setback to India, the first draft of the WTO's committee on agriculture is silent on the two issues that the country has been pitching for- a permanent solution for food security concerns and a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) to protect from sudden surges in imports.  The draft has dismissed the SSM issue in a few lines and linked it with the broader context of agricultural...

-Economic and Political Weekly Drawing from the 60th and 68th rounds of National Sample Survey Office, this study evaluates the impact of different (social, commercial and target-oriented) health insurance schemes on access to healthcare use, and cost of care and financing of medical expenses. The results show that though these schemes promote access to healthcare, they also increase the costs manifold. The commercial insurers have not been effective at pooling financial...

-The Times of India Kozhikode: Despite a looming agrarian crisis, farmers in Wayanad have become the guardians of critical agro-biodiversity by nurturing traditional rice varieties which are fast becoming extinct. They have won exclusive farmers' rights for 10 more traditional rice varieties under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act (PPV&FR), 2001. With this, the number of rice varieties registered as 'Farmers' varieties of Wayanad' has become 16. Seedcare, an association...

-Livemint.com Bano Haralu saves and protects Amur falcons in Nagaland As you read this, one of nature’s greatest spectacles is unfolding in the breathtakingly beautiful North-Eastern state of Nagaland. Thousands of Amur falcons, small birds of prey, are congregating at the Doyang reservoir in Wokha district, having flown thousands of kilometres from Siberia. This is their annual stop at the reservoir; they rest and roost there before flying off to their...

-Livemint.com In 1986, Italian journalist Carlo Petrini was outraged when McDonald’s opened its first outlet in Rome. He saw this as a threat to Italy’s culinary culture. He led a protest against the global industrialization of food, which culminated in the slow food movement. Starting in Rome, the movement is now a worldwide phenomenon. Edited excerpts from an interview at the Indigenous Terra Madre in Shillong: * What are the key achievements...