-The Indian Express Pune: Angry farmers in Pimpalgaon Baswant, the biggest onion trading market in Nashik after Lasalgaon, brought business to a complete halt on Monday after average wholesale prices fell to R950 per quintal. Last week, farmers had threatened to disrupt markets if prices fell below the R1,000-per quintal mark. Farmers blocked the Mumbai-Agra highway in the morning, halting traffic for the entire day. Their demands are removal of the minimum export...

-The Hindu Nobel laureate Venkataraman ‘Venki' Ramakrishnan on Monday came down heavily on those opposed to genetic modification of agricultural crops. In an exclusive interview to The Hindu, he said there was definitely a need to be careful while dealing with GM crops with proper regulatory mechanism, but one should not ignore the tremendous potentials on offer such as in terms of developing drought resistant varieties and crops with more nutrients and...

-The Telegraph The 153-year-old law that criminalises gay sex is likely contributing to hidden depression and possibly even substance abuse among homosexuals, mental health professionals campaigning for its repeal have said. The experts have said the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this week re-criminalising gay sex could lead to a surge in depression levels across the community. They have cited international studies that point to higher levels of mental health problems among gay...

-The Indian Express Aizawl: With the Congress set to form a government for the second consecutive term, the Mizoram government is wasting no time in continuing it's flagship beneficiary scheme beginning with a high-level meeting on Friday to decide on land-use conversion and teams scheduled to visit sites earmarked for infrastructure projects. The NLUP implementing board is scheduled to have a meeting headed by Chief Secretary on Friday, a day before state...

-The Business Standard Onion prices in wholesale markets of Mumbai declined 48.6%, the steepest among the four metros, compared to October In November, onions, which stoked inflation in recent months and probably played a part in the Congress party's dismal performance in four Assembly elections, turned cheaper in four major cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata - at both the wholesale and retail levels. However, the decline in wholesale prices was...