-Down to Earth/ India Science Wire Rice can be a vital source of nutrition if some of the nutritious varieties of rice traditionally grown can be popularised. Rice is a staple food for millions of Indians. It can also be a vital source of nutrition and health-benefiting substances if some of the nutritious varieties of rice traditionally grown can be popularised and polishing is kept to a minimum, a new study of...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: A new set of global guidelines on managing diabetes that aim to replace those followed for over three decades, has stirred up a controversy within the medical community. Medical practitioners here in India feel the guidelines which recommend relaxing blood sugar targets will, not only lead to serious complications in diabetics, but also confusion in treatment protocol, advising that these should be ignored for Indians. There were over...

-The Hindu The children of the farmers who committed suicide do not receive the support or counselling they need to recover from the resulting mental trauma. Jyoti Shelar visits the villages in Maharashtra worst affected by farmer suicide and reports on these minors’ struggle to get their lives back on track “Every time I open the door, I see my father’s body,” says 14-year-old Nikita Surwase, pointing at the iron shaft on...

-The Hindu The slowdown in private investments is visible chiefly in the informal sector, not the corporate sector It is now well recognised that there is an investment slowdown in India, which is delaying a full-blooded recovery in the economy. Private investments, the principle engine of growth, are out of steam. The fall is so severe that it has more than offset the government’s macroeconomic stimulus of increased public investments. The slowdown started...

-The Indian Express For farmers like Bhawane, it’s not the promised MSPs, but the prices for the chana and tur/arhar (pigeon-pea) they would be selling in the next fortnight or so that’s the real concern. Latur: Dhananjay Bhawane has little hope of the standing chana (chickpea) crop on eight out of his 10-acre field fetching anywhere near the government’s minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,400 per quintal, when it is...