Media is business, journalism is not. With these stinging words, developmental journalist and Magsaysay Award winner for journalism P Sainath grabbed the attention of the 250 media students attending Mumbai's Sophia Polytechnic's annual lecture, 'Catalyst for Change', on Thursday. The topic was 'Paid News', on which there cannot be a more well-informed speaker than Sainath who has consistently highlighted the menace in his writings. Sainath said since 2008, some 3000 journalists...

Union Minister for Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge said the major challenge facing India today was that of the unorganised sector. He was speaking at the second World Social Security Summit organised by the International Social Security Association in Capetown, South Africa, on Friday. Mr. Kharge is heading a six-member high-level delegation from India, which held discussions with several Labour Ministers of the nearly 120 countries participating in the meet. Mr. Kharge...

The issues relating to the victims of endosulfan, sprayed in the plantations of Kasargod district in Kerala, have snowballed once again. “Earthworms emerged from the soil, and, subsequently, died. Then birds came to eat the earthworms and they died as well.”   “Some termites were killed in a cotton farm sprayed with endosulfan. A frog fed on the dead termites, and was immobilised a few minutes later. An owl which flew over...

Although new HIV infections show a downward trend in countries of the World Health Organisation's South-East Asia Region, particularly India, Thailand, Nepal and Myanmar, HIV/AIDS is still a serious public health problem. Perhaps the most vulnerable group are children with HIV/AIDS, whose number has increased by 46 per cent between 2001 and 2009. Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is possible by 2015 and WHO is committed to this goal. On...

The indiscriminate use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides over the years has led to deterioration of soil quality and crop productivity in India. According to a study conducted by the central soil water conservation research and training institute (CSWCRTI), Dehra Dun, about 1 millimetre of top soil is lost every year due to erosion. This leads to a total soil loss of 5,334 million tonnes annually, at an average rate...