The government on Thursday raised the benchmark prices at which fertiliser companies and designated traders can import phosphatic and potash fertilisers with subsidy support so that farmers have uninterrupted supply of plant nutrients in the coming monsoon season despite higher global prices. The subsidy given to companies for making the commodity available to farmers, is computed based on the notified benchmark prices. The decision to raise the prices of imported di-ammonium...

The head of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned today that the “slow-motion catastrophe” of non-communicable diseases could overwhelm even the wealthiest nations if the root causes of the epidemic, mostly lifestyle decisions, are not addressed. Margaret Chan, the WHO Director-General, told delegates at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control in Moscow that the fact the many of the chronic non-communicable illnesses in...

As the stage is set for the crucial meeting of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP), a global regime to protect human health and the environment from dangerous chemicals, to be held in Geneva from April 25, a showdown between the Centre and Kerala has been underway. In the meeting with an all-party delegation from Kerala, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reiterated the position taken by Union ministers...

Conference of parties to Stockholm Convention begins in Geneva on April 25 The Kerala government will press the Centre to adopt a stand in favour of a global ban on the production and use of Endosulfan at a conference of parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants beginning in Geneva on April 25. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here on Monday that he would soon write to the Centre demanding...

Late last month we received the exciting news that India now has a population of 1.21 billion. This figure generated less discussion than I expected. Maybe it would have been more mind-boggling a few months ago, before all the scams and scandals inured us to the large number of zeros that a billion signifies. Or maybe we were distracted by the other bad news in the census results — the...