-The Times of India MUMBAI: Instead of simplifying the process for organ donation, the Centre seems to be imposing more bureaucratic hurdles and adding to the trauma of donors' family members. A draft of fresh national guidelines for organ transplant says forensic departments of government hospitals will play a pivotal role in organ donation. The problem, say experts, is that grieving relatives may have to wait longer-first, for busy, overworked forensic experts...

-The United Nations Given the right conditions and targeted support, small farmers can unleash a new and sustainable agricultural revolution, the United Nations environment agency a partner agricultural development organization reported today on the eve of World Environment Day. According to the report, Smallholders, Food Security and the Environment, an estimated 2.5 billion people who manage 500 million smallholder farm households provide over 80 per cent of the food consumed in much...

-The Business Standard Time to question the assumptions behind the food Bill In the midst of all the politicking as to how and when the draft food security Bill will become law, one thing at least is clear: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) intends to push forward with the much-criticised legislation. UPA-II has little to show for four years in power, and perhaps it imagines that the Bill will somehow alter the...

-Down to Earth   Orders forest department to restore honey seized during raid The court of judicial magistrate of Chamrajnagar in Karnataka has upheld the rights of Soliga tribal people to harvest and sell forest produce independent of the forest department. On May 24, the court ordered Punjanur range forest officer to return 1,100 kg of honey seized from the Hosepodu gram sabha, located within the Biligiri Rangaswami Temple (BRT) tiger reserve, during...

-The Business Standard Ranchi: Jharkhand could qualify for more funds than the Rs 1,500-crore earmarked as labour budget under MGNREGS, if the state pulled up its socks and honoured deadlines while executing the Centre's flagship scheme this fiscal. The word came from Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh who reviewed the job programme and action plans for Saranda and Sarju areas among other things at the Project Building in Ranchi today. "Of the...