The indiscriminate use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides over the years has led to deterioration of soil quality and crop productivity in India. According to a study conducted by the central soil water conservation research and training institute (CSWCRTI), Dehra Dun, about 1 millimetre of top soil is lost every year due to erosion. This leads to a total soil loss of 5,334 million tonnes annually, at an average rate...
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Number of HIV patients dropping in India: Study
December 1 is World AIDS Day, and there is some reason for India to feel good about. A new study, conducted by a multinational diagnostic chain, claims that the number of HIV positive patients has declined in the country in the past three years. The study, conducted by Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, tested a sample size of 18,005 walk-in patients for HIV-related diseases between January-October 2008, 2009 and 2010, in Mumbai, New Delhi,...
More »EU stings honey exports
The government today informed Parliament that the European Union (EU) has banned imports of honey from India on account of the presence of heavy metals in the consignments. The EU is the second largest destination for Indian honey exports after the US. India exports honey to over 60 nations. India’s honey exports totalled $32.39 million in 2008-09, a quarter of which went to the EU. “The EU has banned the export of...
More »India Needs A Seed Liability Bill by Devinder Sharma
For past several weeks, thousands of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand have been left in the lurch. They had planted urd and til crops in a large acreage, and to their dismay no grain formation took place in the standing crop. Unable to bear the economic loss, at least four farmers have reportedly committed suicide. Thousands of farmers have been pushed deeper into economic distress....
More »New UN guidelines unveiled to protect health workers from HIV and TB
United Nations agencies today launched new international guidelines aimed at helping to protect health workers who provide care to people infected with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) from becoming infected themselves in the course of their work. The guidelines, drafted by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), are designed to help doctors, nurses and midwives, pharmacists and laboratory technicians, as...
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