-PTI With the twin objectives of preventing corrosion of tracks and providing odourless toilets to passengers, railways are replacing existing ones with bio-toilets. "While some green toilets designed by DRDO are already being manufactured and fitted in coaches, we are committed to manufacture 25,00 bio-toilets in the current fiscal," said a senior Railway Ministry official. The problem of environmental degradation and corrosion of tracks due to night soil has been engaging the attention...

-Down to Earth Traders say Food Safety and Standards Act rolls out red carpet for multinationals The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) of 2006 has not gone down well with food business operators. They say sections of the Act dealing with licensing, registration, hygiene standards, penalty provisions and powers of food safety inspectors are “draconian”. FSSA, which came into force in August last year, replaces the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA)...

The 28th of May, marked as “World Hunger Day,” has come and gone but for Pannu Bai Bhil, every day is hunger day. How does someone dealing with chronic hunger view a day marking her plight? Let those of us who overeat at least take stock of a hungry India pitted against bumper crops, number crunching, technologies for profit, markets, and growth rates. The solution for hunger lies in proper...

-Economic and Political Weekly India’s fast food products must be subject to mandatory labelling. The role of fast or “junk” food with its concentration of fats, sugar and salt in the rapid multiplication of non-communicable lifestyle diseases has been the subject of countless studies over the past few decades, especially in the west. (A classic book from the United States with a title that says it all is Fast Food Nation.) Now, the...

-PTI Despite initiating steps to prevent crime in trains and stations, there has been an increase in cases of misconduct against women passengers. As per data available with the Railways, a total of 712 cases including rape, murder, robbery and eve-teasing were reported against women and children in railway premises in 2011 as against 501 cases in the previous year. There were 15 rape and 362 eve-teasing cases reported in 2011 as against...