The same full page appeared twice in three years, the first time as news, the second time as an advertisement “Not a single person from the two villages has committed suicide.” Three and a half years ago, at a time when the controversy over the use of genetically modified seeds was raging across India, a newspaper story painted a heartening picture of the technology's success. “There are no suicides here and people...

The disaster in Japan revealed many risks that were earlier unknown; it is important to assess the risks in India in a transparent manner and explain which are worth taking. The nuclear plant accident at Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011 exemplifies the prescient remark of nuclear reactor pioneer, the late Alvin Weinberg, that “a nuclear accident somewhere is a nuclear accident everywhere.” After Fukushima, many countries initiated a reconsideration of the...

While one year has passed without polio caused by natural poliovirus, we can claim complete eradication only after we ensure the absence of wild and vaccine polioviruses in the population. Today, India passes one whole year without polio caused by natural (wild) poliovirus — a major milestone towards polio eradication. This spells relief from an agonising decade of wild polioviruses refusing to surrender. Many experts believed that India posed the greatest...

-The United Nations   Global food prices in November were virtually unchanged from October, and 10 per cent below their peak in February, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. FAO’s Food Price Index level was 215 points last month – just two points, or one per cent, above its level in November 2010, according to a news release issued by the Rome-based agency. Cereal prices dropped by 3 points, or...

A National Sample Survey Organisation ( NSSO) study found that nearly half of the country's farmer households are in debt. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Punjab are the top three states recording highest percentage of farmers in debt.  Of the 89.35 million farmer households in the country, 43.42 million are unable to come out of the debt trap, the report said. AP tops the chart with 82% of farmers in debt,...