-Down to Earth Low returns and high risks from alternative crops among reasons past efforts failed, says report The Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) has recommended promotion of crop diversification, favouring oilseed crops amid the global inflation in oilseeds and vegetable oils prices. Global inflation creates a structural risk as vegetable oils account for about half of India’s agricultural import, subsequently raising the country’s agri-import bill, the commission wrote in its...

-The Telegraph Research considers expenses arising out of visits to hospitals, clinics and doctors’ private chambers and not those from home visits by doctors New Delhi: Medicines account for the largest share of healthcare expenditure arising out of hospital visits by Indian households, whether seeking outpatient or inpatient services, but health-related non-medical expenses on travel or accommodation too pose big financial burdens, new research has indicated. The Study, a comprehensive dissection of out-of-pocket...

-The New Indian Express Rice has never been a staple food of Punjab, and the irony is that the rice crop covers the largest fertile area in Punjab. The recent developments regarding the international trade of Indian wheat has sparked a debate about India’s export policies. Besides the economics of the export ban move and India’s foreign policy, the public health perspective should also influence decisions regarding  the trading and distribution of...

-IndiaToday.in A Study published in the prestigious medical journal Lancet has found that some antiviral medications might have the potential to shorten symptoms of monkeypox and reduce the amount of time a patient is contagious. Nearly 20 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with more than 100 confirmed or suspected infections mostly in Europe. The outbreaks are raising alarm because monkeypox, which spreads through close...

-The Telegraph The scientist, Madhav Gadgil, turns 80 this month I come from a family of scientists, but I shied away from Studying science myself. Yet, in a happy irony, it turned out that the most important intellectual collaboration of my life was with a scientist, Madhav Gadgil, whose eightieth birthday falls later this month. Born in Pune, Gadgil studied in Bombay, and at Harvard, where he took a PhD in ecology and...