-The Hindu Reckless use of pesticides led to high incidence of diseases, say farmers KADALANGUDI (NAGAPATTINAM, Tamil Nadu): Yellow blades of paddy grass bereft of tillers glisten against the scorching noon sun. For the farmers of Vada Kadalangudi in Orkudi panchayat, the 80-100 day pesticide-infested paddy crop will not make up even for good fodder. Vast stretches of directly-sowed fields of Keezhvelur block here, lie wilted under mealy bug attack. The story stretches across...

-The Hindu Hyderabad: Severe tropical cyclone Helen tapered off into a low pressure area on Saturday causing extensive damage to standing paddy crop and leaving six dead in the four districts of coastal Andhra region. According to official reports, six persons - two each in Krishna and East Godavari and one each in SRIkakulam and West Godavari - were dead while paddy crop spread over 3.5 lakh hectares suffered extensive damage. In...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The price caps imposed by the Indian government on 348 drugs earlier this year have created only an illusion of control, keeping many medicines for conditions ranging from asthma to diabetes and heart disease beyond price regulations, experts said today. The price control order issued by the department of pharmaceuticals in May has led to a 22 per cent reduction in the average cost of some 250 medicines,...

-The Hindu Hyderabad: When compared to non-vegetarians, vegetarians consume less amounts of salt and fat but on the whole, vegetarians were consuming a better mix of nutrients than non-vegetarians, a study conducted by the Delhi-based South Asia Network for Chronic Diseases (SANCD) concluded. Vegetarian foods are also less in Vitamin B12, Zinc and Iron but have high amounts of Vitamin C and Folic Acid, the study said. Presenting the findings at a...

-The Network of Women in Media (India) Recent developments at the weekly news magazine Tehelka demonstrate that media houses have a long way to go in ensuring safety for women media professionals. A journalist working with Tehelka revealed that she was sexually assaulted by the editor, Tarun Tejpal, on two occasions on 7 and 8 November 2013. The repeated harassment and assault over two days took place during Tehelka's "Think" festival in...