The Union Government has prepared the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2001 (BRAI in brief) for the regulation of the biotechnology sector in India. While the need for strong and careful regulation certainly exists keeping in view the serious threats posed to health and environment by the genetically modified (GM) crops, the BRAI can actually increase this threat by paving the way for the rapid spread of GM crops...

-The Hindu   Even as the death toll in last week's clash at Gopalgarh went up to nine, the deadlock over the post-mortem on five of the victims of violence in the eastern Rajasthan town ended on Wednesday with their close relatives agreeing to the autopsies with videography in the presence of distinguished persons. A five-member team of doctors from Sawai Man Singh Hospital here started the autopsies at the Bharatpur Government Hospital...

Planning Commission affidavit not to be taken as the last word' An embarrassed government swung into damage control mode on Wednesday, in response to widespread criticism of an affidavit filed by the Planning Commission that suggested that an individual income of just Rs 25 a day constituted adequate “private expenditure on food, education and health,” at a time when even the minimum wage was pegged at over Rs.100 a day, the...

The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill is a first step towards granting functional autonomy to the country's nuclear regulator. THE true independence and functional autonomy of the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has been questioned for long. The issue gained further importance in recent months after it was raised in many quarters in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March in Japan. To allay public fears as...

-The Hindu   autopsies not completed as victims' relatives demand calling specialists from AIIMS in Delhi Tension in the violence-hit Gopalgarh town of Bharatpur district escalated on Monday with a five-member medical team from Jaipur failing to conduct autopsies on five of the eight victims of this past Wednesday's clash following objections raised by their kin. The bodies are kept in the mortuary at Bharatpur Government Hospital. State Chief Secretary S. Ahmed had announced...