Dr M.S. Swaminathan, considered the Father of the Green Revolution in India, finally stated his views on genetically-modified (GM) crops in an opinion piece published on August 26, 2009, in this newspaper. GM crops are produced by inserting foreign genes, mostly non-plant genes (bacterial, viral and animal genes) for obtaining hitherto non-existent, new characteristics in a crop. For instance, the Bt class of GM crops like Bt cotton and Bt...

  KEY TRENDS   • The report entitled Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana: An Assessment from the Centre for Science and Environment (released on 21 July, 2017) finds that PMBY is not beneficial for farmers in vulnerable regions. For farmers in vulnerable regions such as Bundelkhand and Marathwada, factors like low indemnity levels, low threshold yields, low sum insured and default on loans make PMFBY a poor scheme to safeguard against extreme weather events. CSE's...

KEY TRENDS  • The NSS 59th Round (January-December 2003) had found that 48.6% farmer households were indebted while the NSS 70th Round (January-December 2013) has observed that 52% of India's agricultural households were indebted in July, 2012-June, 2013 $   • A similar survey on rural indebtedness by the NSSO in 1991 found indebtedness among only 26% of farmers $   • On an average, the amount of debt per farmer household was Rs. 12,585 during NSS...

KEY TRENDS  • The eight leading cause-groups of deaths in 2008 based on Medical Certification of Cause of Death are: 1. Diseases of the Circulatory System; 2. Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases; 3. Injury, Poisoning and Certain Other Consequences of External Causes; 4. Diseases of the Respiratory System; 5. Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period; 6. Neoplasm (C00-D48); 7. Endocrine, Nutritional, Metabolic Diseases; and 8. Symptoms, Sign and Abnormal Clinical...

**page** [inside]KEY TRENDS of the Union Budget 2023-24[/inside] Budget 2023-24 is the last full budget before the general election scheduled for 2024. An analysis of the budget allocations suggests that the union government has squeezed expenditure, particularly on food subsidy and the NREGA budget, while boosting Capital expenditure and giving the middle class tax benefits. Social sector activists working on Right to Food, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came out with...