-Reuters The United States on Tuesday began action at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to open India's market for poultry meant and eggs, saying an Indian ban on US imports intended to stop the spread of bird flu was not based on sound science. "The United States is the world's leader in agricultural safety and we are confident that the WTO will confirm that India's ban is unjustified," US Trade Representative Ron...

Is the majority of India veg or non-veg? Well, contrary to impression, the land of Gandhi and Buddha is predominantly non-veg. It may well have been majority vegetarian country at some point of time but the new trend is that more and more people are taking to non-vegetarian diets. A new policy paper, “Veg or Non-Veg? India at the Crossroads,” published by Brighter Green, a New York-based public policy action...

On a wall on Station Road, among posters of Khoonkar Darinde and The Dirty Picture, Amitabh Bachchan looks out of a row of yellow-and-red posters and says, “Do boond har baar.” Here in Moradabad, the town in western Uttar Pradesh that till recently exported, besides its intricate brassware, strains of the deadly polio virus, the posters have been around for long. The writing on the wall was clear: this was...

-The Hindustan Times   Lokayukta sleuths raided the residence of a Class IV employee of the Ujjain Municipal Corporation on Wednesday and found documents showing assets worth Rs 4.5 crore. According to the documents Narendra Deshmukh, a 53-year-old peon-cum-storekeeper, owns two houses, a poultry farm, a Chicken shop, five acres of land in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district, partnership in a 10-room hotel in Mumbai, two sport utility vehicles (SUVs) worth more than Rs 16...

The Congress today appears besieged and beleaguered with key allies and even members from its own ranks lining up behind the combined Opposition in vehemently opposing the Manmohan Singh government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. But, paradoxically, this state of siege — reflected by the prolonged deadlock in Parliament with a quasi no-confidence motion hanging over it — also gives the Grand Old Party a great opportunity not just...