-Livemint.com A report by NEERI recommends that suitable rebate in tax or subsidies may be given to poultry farms to encourage owners to give up the present caged system New Delhi: Poultry owners should understand that animals raised for food too deserve to live free from cruelty, and so, layered battery-cage systems in India’s poultry industry should be replaced with cage-free housings in a phase-wise manner, according to a report by the...

-TheWire.in The Indian farmer is not just a poor, helpless victim who deserves a waiver because he cannot pay. The root cause of the debt trap is that his income has not increased with rising expenditure due to state policies. As Punjab joins the list of states to declare farm loan waivers, the political scales are now heavily tilted in favour of this idea. The government of Telangana, followed by Andhra Pradesh,...

-Livemint.com A detailed look at Labour Bureau’s Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) methodology and design suggests that one shouldn’t read too much in these numbers New Delhi: Opposition parties and many commentators have been citing the Labour Bureau’s Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) numbers to attack the government over failure to generate employment). How credible are such claims? A detailed look at QES methodology and design suggests that one shouldn’t read too much in...

-NDTV The Kerala assembly resolution has listed out reasons why they opposed GM mustard. It says it is not proved that genetically-modified crops give more yield than normal varieties and that GM crops attract new pests and controlling them needs the use of highly hazardous and expensive chemical pesticides. Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Legislative Assembly today unanimous passed a resolution rejecting genetically modified or GM Mustard seed. Just a little over a...

-The Hindu The core issues are affordable access to medicines and their rational prescription and use The Medical Council of India (MCI) issued a circular on April 21 drawing attention to clause 1.5 of its regulations regarding the professional conduct of doctors: “Every physician should prescribe drugs with generic names legibly and preferably in capital letters and he/she shall ensure that there is a rational prescription of drugs.” Further, the circular said,...