-The New Indian Express BHUBANESWAR: In its bid to ensure food security and sustainability in agriculture sector, the Odisha Government has woken up to the need of promoting organic farming. In its draft Organic Farming Policy, the Agriculture Department has proposed formation of a State Organic Commodity Board which will not only facilitate organic farming but also promote trade of organic commodities through knowledge sharing. The Department has decided to take a leaf...

-Economic and Political Weekly The National Democratic Alliance government has constituted the IPR Think Tank which, among other things, is to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy. India may not have a policy per se but it has a strong legislation on IPRs, a functioning patents office and mechanisms to grant patents as well as protect consumer interests. The Think Tank has other issues it needs to address, but is...

There is some good news amid gloom! Preliminary findings of a survey in India as quoted by the Global Nutrition Report 2014 shows that prevalence of malnutrition among children aged below 5 years has come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14, even though we have a long way to go. (See links and bullet points below). The survey on malnutrition and hunger, called the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), was conducted after...

-The New Indian Express   BHUBANESWAR: Effective leveraging of agriculture is the key to ensuring food and nutrition security. This can be achieved by taking steps to ensure that technological intervention in farms is done with agreement of farmers. This was one of the key points made by a panel of experts at a forum on ‘Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) initiative in Koraput', conducted by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here on...

-The Hindu Business Line Report lauds rapid progress in health indicators, especially in Maharashtra India is making rapid strides in overcoming the problem of malnutrition, with the number of stunted children under the age of five declining by over 10 million, says a ‘Global Nutrition Report'. The "first-ever comprehensive narrative on global health and country-level progress toward reducing malnutrition", brought out by a consortium of nations, organisations, researchers, and academics, covers each of...