-Outlook Hyderabad: In a unique initiative to recognise outstanding work in biodiversity conservation at the grass roots level, the Union Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly presented awards to models of biodiversity governance from across the country. The awards were presented to the representatives of the winners at a ceremony held on the sidelines of the ongoing UN convention on biological diversity here last night. A press release from...

-The Times of India Medicines in India may not be sold under brand names in the near future. In its biggest move to push generic drugs and do away with brand names, the Union health ministry has ordered states to stop issuing licence for the manufacture or sale of drugs on the basis of their brand name. All pharmaceutical firms applying for licence to market or manufacture fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs will...

-The Hindu Nelamanagala Taluk/Allasandra village: They were confined against their wishes and without wages The last sight Khagapati Kumbhar (39) expected on Wednesday afternoon was a convoy of white government vehicles speeding towards the brick factory where he worked. Mr. Kumbhar and 13 other migrant labourers from his village in the backward Bolangir district of Odisha had been confined against their wishes and without wages in the factory since June. The convoy screeched to...

-The Hindu Intelligent management of ecosystems can help to turn local economies around and give destitute households a chance to increase their incomes Protecting biodiversity is humanity’s insurance policy against the unprecedented biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation which has occurred in recent decades, undermining the very foundations of life on earth. This is why this week’s 11th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, which India is hosting, is...

-The Economic Times With reports of groundwater level going down in Punjab and Haryana, considered the rice bowl of India, scientists and analysts suggest its cultivation be shifted to eastern states which have better water resources. They say Punjab and Haryana should focus on basmati rice, which is largely exported, and the eastern states should produce non-basmati varieties for meeting the domestic demand. Talking to ET, Dr Swapan Kumar Dutta, deputy director general...