Just months after the 1984 gas leak at Union Carbide's plant here, the Indian government agreed to the 'terms' set by the company on compensation to be paid to victims, a Right to Information (RTI) activist has claimed. Not only that, the government treated the world's worst industrial disaster as a 'railway accident'. 'We have obtained top secret documents dated Feb 28 and March 5, 1985, that show that Union Carbide...

-The Hindu   Noted Jaipur-based economist V. S. Vyas has expressed concern over “progressive diminution” of cultivated holdings which he says has led to stagnation in the yield of major crops and rendered agricultural income insufficient for farmers to make ends meet. A sharp decline was also being witnessed in per capita food production, he said. Delivering the Tarlok Singh Memorial Lecture at the University of Hyderabad over the weekend, Professor Vyas said...

The nation wants to know how often teenagers pop the emergency contraceptive pill. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will support and finance research projects that will look at the pill's use and overuse. Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs) are used to prevent pregnancy following an unprotected act of sexual intercourse within 72 hours. The council has called for research proposals by December 31 on emergency contraception, especially those that will look...

-The United Nations   The United Nations agencies working to combat hunger today called for action to ensure long-term food security as a new report shows that high food prices are likely to continue and possible increase over the next decade. “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011,” an annual flagship report which the three Rome-based agencies jointly produced this year, states that small, import-dependent countries, particularly in Africa, are especially...

-AP   An estimated 100,000 people in India may have escaped HIV infection over five years thanks to one of the world’s biggest prevention programmes, an encouraging sign that targeting high-risk groups remains vital even as more donors focus on treatment, a new study suggests. While the initial findings regarding the $258 million Avahan project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, come with large uncertainty due to data limitations and methodology,...