India is seeking a postponement of the decision on a global ban on Endosulfan to the next meeting of the conference of parties to the Stockholm Convention in 2013, according to observers. C. Jayakumar and Dr. Mohammed Asheel, observers from Kerala to the ongoing conference of parties to the Convention in Geneva, said in an email message that India had distributed a draft of its proposal among the Asia Pacific group...

A transparent assessment of the costs and risks associated with India's ambitious nuclear plans must be made before any ground is broken at Jaitapur or elsewhere. You really have to hand it to the nuclear industry. In any other sphere of the economy, a major industrial disaster is likely to have adverse, long-term financial consequences for the company or companies whose product or activity was involved in the accident, regardless of...

In a major shift from its earlier position, the law ministry has decided to lift the veil of secrecy on complaints received against judges of the Supreme Court and high courts if a complainant has no objection making his or her name public. The ministry’s decision to provide complaints of corruption and misconduct against the members of higher judiciary under the Right to Information (RTI) Act follows a direction from...

WHILE maintaining her support for a Lokpal institution, Aruna Roy, a prominent civil rights activist and a member of the National Advisory Council, took a critical position in respect of the Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by the activists of the India Against Corruption campaign. A recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2000, she heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (a trade union of workers and peasants)...

Government to promote its use to tackle anaemia Food Department to examine the possibility of supplying DFS through PDS Ministries of Women and Child Development and Health to launch media campaign The Union government will promote the use of iron fortified iodised salt (double fortified salt) to battle anaemia, one of the major causes of malnutrition, particularly among women and children. To begin with, the Ministries dealing with food and nutrition programmes such as...