Scientists have launched a project to develop India’s first personal genetic data cards — credit card-sized plastic-and-magnetic devices that could dramatically expand access to personalised predictive medicine. In its first phase, the project will capture genetic data to predict a person’s likely response to more than 100 drugs to help him avoid taking medicines that may not benefit him or may cause him serious side-effects. Scientists also hope to use genetic data...

For a poor boy from the dark heart of tribal India, constable Kartam Surya has done well. An 8th class pass from the village of Misma in South Bastar’s Dantewada district — in the so-called Maoist 'liberated zone' in Chhattisgarh — 26-year-old Surya makes sure he gives his father, a marginal farmer scratching a living from the land, enough money to live in peace and comfort. "Surya is a good son...

If you thought that globalization and privatization would reduce the glamour and clamour for government jobs, you couldn't be more wrong. The first-ever state-backed study on aspirations and expectations of youth in Karnataka suggest that at least 60% of 14-34 year-olds -- irrespective of their education, economic status and place of study - prefer a government job. Fuelling their aspiration for a government gaddi seems to be job security, which is...

Amipur may be a small dot along the national highway from Patna to Nawada, but its ambitions are big. In the 50-odd households in the village, sparsely populated and rife with an uneasy quiet, most men have left for work outside Bihar. Siyaram Chauhan is the one who returned. He was rescued last month by the state government officials from a brick kiln in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich where he worked as...

India's anxiety over erratic monsoon rains will become more acute as rising incomes and a growing population push up demand for farmed produce faster than supply, turning the nation into a major importer within 5 years. Forecasts of a normal monsoon this year have stirred hopes for smooth supplies and low inflation, reversing setbacks from last year's poor rains. But the country must boost yields if it is to feed...