-The Economic Times As the monsoon plays truant, the tragic face of our agrarian distress, suicide by farmers, is likely to manifest again in several parts of the country. A state like Maharashtra, where large acreages of a cash crop like cotton are grown under rain-fed conditions, is particularly vulnerable to such vagaries of weather and has, for long, remained the 'suicide capital' of the country. There is credible data to show...

-The Times of India State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) are all set to increase price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre with effect from Saturday, while the prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene will be increased next week once Congress president Sonia Gandhi returns after her medical checkup on September 10. A cabinet note on increasing the prices of sensitive petroleum products like diesel, cooking gas and kerosene has already...

-The Times of India Hooked to organic food for its supposed health benefits? Here's some food for thought. In the largest analysis of studies till date on organic food, researchers from Stanford University have said there is "little evidence of healthier benefits from organic food over those grown conventionally". The researchers found no difference in protein or fat content between organic and conventional milk. No consistent differences were also seen in the...

-The Times of India Over-the-counter sale of around 92 antibiotic and anti-tuberculosis drugs in India will be restricted soon. Drug Controller General of India G N Singh has written to the Union health minister to notify a new schedule, H1, in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules. Once notified, following clearance from the law ministry, these drugs cannot be sold without prescription. The drugs will also have to carry a prominent label in red...

-The Times of India India's wheat and rice production can be increased by over 60 percent, sugarcane production by 41 per cent and cotton production by 73 per cent by 2050 - without cutting down forests or increasing farmed area in any other way. Sounds like a dream? A study, published in the scientific journal Nature last week, shows that this is indeed possible. In fact it is possible to feed the...