-The Indian Express Prime Minister Narendra Modi might have stressed on building toilets in schools for both boys and girls, but all the discussion seems to be centred around the lack of toilets for girls. Not much is discussed about lack of toilets for boys. It is true that girls are more prone to dropout from schools and face crimes because of this, but looking holistically, even boys should have the...
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India slashes health budget by almost 20%
-Reuters The government has ordered a cut of nearly 20% in its 2014-15 healthcare budget due to fiscal strains, putting at risk key DISEase control initiatives in a country whose public spending on health is already among the lowest in the world. Two health ministry officials told Reuters on Tuesday that more than 60 billion rupees, or $948 million, has been slashed from their budget allocation of around $5 billion for the...
More »Organic foods: Are they more nutritious? Are they safer? Or are they plain lies? -Rhythma Kaul and Shehzin Shaikh
-The Hindustan Times Despite paying as much as double the price, many health-conscious consumers who think they've gone organic really haven't. Information obtained by Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) under the Right to Information Act proves that farms that claim to be organic regularly use chemical pesticides to protect their crops, yet market and sell their produce under the organic tag. Evidence of this practice came to light after information from...
More »Wither Away the Pressure on India's Patent Law -Saradindu Bhaduri
-Vikalp Once again, India is under pressure from the US to revise its patent law. Anyone familiar with the activities of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) would know that this is nothing new. It has been among the USTR's primary mandates to use trade restrictions in order to persuade (to put it mildly) countries to strengthen their IPR laws. There is, however, a qualitative difference between the actions it has...
More »Who owns our genetic wealth? -Suman Sahai
-The Asian Age There was a news report not so long ago that ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), an international organisation and part of the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) consortium, had entered into an agreement with Gubba Cold Storage Ltd. to set up a private seed bank, the first of its kind in India. No details were available of the terms and conditions under...
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