-Hindustan Times In Bollywood romcoms, mustard fields glowing iridescent yellow are an oft-used backdrop for romantic songs. Remember the iconic 1995 hit, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Mustard, as it were, is an onscreen metaphor for vigour and youthful passion. However, looked through a farm scientist’s lens, the traditional Indian mustard isn’t genetically very impressive. It is only half as robustly growing as its east European cousins. Low yields mean India has to...

-Press Release from India Resource Center New Delhi: A proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages like tobacco in India is being welcomed by public health advocates. The proposal to increase sin taxes on aerated drinks is part of the recommendations made by India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament of India. Taxation to reduce consumption of tobacco has been successful when used...

-Hindustan Times In the 1970s Deng Xiaoping explained that China’s one-child policy was being introduced to ensure “the fruits of economic growth are not devoured by population growth”. Last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s rationale for officially abandoning the policy was the reverse: To ensure economic growth is not wrecked by population decrease. But it is probably too late to change China’s demographic future. China’s population has begun to age — and age...

-The Times of India THANE: With little hopes of revival of farmlands in Marathwada region, large-scale migration of farmers from these barren lands to second tier cities like Thane and Navi Mumbai can be expected in future, say experts in the field of migration. Scant showers this monsoon has filled the Marathwada dam up to just about 16%, providing hardly any relief to farmers here. As a result, massive influx of farmers...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A joint study by Indian and Pakistani doctors has detected abnormally high blood sugar levels in six out of 10 adults in cities, indicating a "frighteningly" higher prevalence of diabetes or its precursor, pre-diabetes, than observed before. The doctors, who screened 13,720 people aged over 20 in Chennai, Delhi and Karachi, have warned that the high incidence of pre-diabetes suggests millions more urban South Asians are likely to...