-The Hindu Why are food, clothing and fuel prices higher in the hinterland? Will a good monsoon help ease the crisis? The story so far: The retail inflation rate surged to 6.95% this March — its highest level in nearly one and a half years, capping off six successive months of accelerating prices for consumers. With incremental fuel price hikes only kicking in during the latter half of March, the full impact...

-The New Indian Express Women in Chinnaparakudy tribal settlement find a source of livelihood, reports  Nejma Sulaiman IDUKKI: Many tribal hamlets in Idukki still follow the primitive practice of secluding menstruating girls and women for up to a week in special huts called ‘valaimapura’. At the Chinnaparakudy settlement in Adimaly panchayat, however, the ‘menstrual hut’ has been converted into a hub of creativity, one that offers a livelihood for women.  Earlier, like in...

-The Hindu Improving natural iron absorption from iron-rich grains is a better strategy than chemical iron fortification of cereals Is iron deficiency universal and profound in India? Is it due to dietary iron deficiency? With the Indian vegetarian diet, containing 8.5 mg iron/1,000 Kcal-energy, women who eat adequately (enough energy for a sedentary lifestyle), should have an iron intake of about 15 mg/day, matching their daily iron requirement (15 mg/day). Adult men...

-The Hindu Without addressing undernutrition, the goals of reducing the incidence of TB, and mortality, in India, cannot be reached In the past, there was a belief that every ill had a pill and the pill killed the germs that made you ill. That germ could be a bacteria, virus or a parasite. Factors such as genetic and metabolic causes, hormonal imbalance and altered neuro-chemical transmitters causing illnesses were less known then....

-The Tribune Disruption in supplies due to Ukraine crisis may create food shortage, price distortions The war in Ukraine has become a war on the world’s poor. Russia and Ukraine, together, accounted for a quarter of the world’s wheat exports, one-sixth of global corn exports, nearly a third of barley and three-fourths of the export of sunflower oil. American sanctions on Russia mean it cannot sell its extra wheat in the global...