-The Hindu Business Line Palm oil imports slow down in May Bengaluru/ Ahmedabad: The Centre has increased the import duty on crude and refined soft edible oils such as soy oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed on Thursday. Duty on crude soft edible oils has been hiked to 35 per cent and on and soft oils to 45 per cent. Earlier, crude soy oil attracted an import duty of 30 per cent, and sunflower...

-Livemint.com Plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto, and any royalties on GM crops will be decided by the agriculture ministry, says Delhi high court New Delhi: Plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto Inc., and any royalties on genetically modified (GM) technology will be decided by a specialized agency of the agriculture ministry, the Delhi high court...

-The Indian Express The state Cabinet on Tuesday ratified the draft medical policy, which, among others, proposes a standard treatment guideline covering all hospitals to ensure 'rationale, effective and affordable treatment'. Thiruvananthapuram: In an effort to ensure that all children below the age of five are immunised, the Left Front government in Kerala has made vaccination certificate mandatory for admission to class-I from the next academic session. Health Minister K K Shailaja...

-The Hindu There must be consensus among major political parties around vital issues like health Barely a month before the deaths of children in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly due to the disruption of oxygen supply in the BRD Medical College, the U.P. Health Minister had addressed a consultation in Lucknow organised by the Observer Research Foundation. He admitted that U.P.’s health system was in the “ICU”, and said he was trying...

-Hindustan Times After Tamil Nadu’s pioneering Amma canteens, many states have started community kitchens, such as Karnataka’s Indira Canteens. This is a welcome development. The first coverage of the recently inaugurated “Indira canteens” in Karnataka that I noticed were two reports on television channels. Both were poking fun (justifiably) at Rahul Gandhi’s goofy speech at the launch. Sadly though, neither commented on the rationale or importance of the Karnataka government’s initiative. This...