The virus that causes Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is slow moving and will not spread across the country as fast as the H1N1 swine flu virus, experts have said. However, the mortality rate among those affected by Congo virus will be far more than H1N1. In an exclusive interview to TOI, Dr A C Mishra, director of the National Institute of Virology, Pune, said different viruses have different characteristics. Influenza viruses...
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Emerging Nations Tackle Food Costs by Eric Bellman and Alex Frangos
Fast-growing emerging nations are taking increasingly aggressive actions to beat back rising food prices as they grow more worried of threats to stability if prices don't start to retreat. Developing-market governments have unveiled a laundry list of measures—including price caps, export bans and rules to counter commodity speculation—to keep food costs from disrupting their economies as price spikes that some had hoped were temporary have stretched into the new year. Some...
More »Food crisis depicts marginalisation of the poor by Vikram Doctor
Everyone agrees that there is a food crisis. As ordinary members of the public we know there’s one every time we go out shopping for vegetables. My mother knows there’s a crisis because, after recently sacking her cook, she discovered the lady had left with all the onions in the house. The media agrees there’s one, and sends more TV crews to talk to onion farmers, even though the TV reporters...
More »Honeybees turn Endosulfan victims by Roy Mathew
Decline in number of pollinators reduces yield potential of crops Bees die the day after pesticide application Decline in number of feral and hived colonies Indiscriminate use of pesticides has resulted in the decline of honeybee population in Idukki and Kasaragod districts, studies show. S. Devanesan, Professor and Principal Scientist, All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Honeybees and Pollinators, College of Agriculture of Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, said indiscriminate use of pesticides caused...
More »Maximum Dithering for Minimum Wages!
Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...
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