“Most common TB test is more than 125 years old; TB drugs are more than 40 years old” Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates on Thursday said the large number of deaths in the world due to tuberculosis was unacceptable and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was all for supporting a low-cost affordable vaccine for the disease. “Whatever helps the poorest, we are committed to it,'' Mr. Gates said at...

An inter-ministerial group set up by the government to keep a watch on inflation and suggest measures has reiterated the need to revise the mandi law that prevents competition among buyers for farm produce. The group headed by chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act needed to be revised to encourage competition among traders and promote efficiency in retailing. Kishore Biyani , Chairman, Future Group...

Revising the Agriculture Produce Market Committee Act ( APMC Act), encouraging competition among traders and promoting efficiency in retailing are some of the steps needed to calm food inflation. These views were discussed in the second meeting of a interministerial group appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the inflation situation and suggest corrective measures, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry. Kishore Biyani, chairman of retail major...

Given the vulnerability of Indian agriculture to climate change, the countrys food security is threatened by global warming. The Union agriculture ministry is right, therefore, to warn of a possible foodgrain deficit, of as much as 20 million tonne by the end of this decade if measures are not taken to combat the impact of global warming on food production. It has also reportedly asked for an additional budgetary support...

By all indications, FDI in multi-brand retail is a fait accompli. Or so we have been told time and again by everyone, the PM downward. The “question is at what point of time it should be done”. This remark from Pranab Mukherjee in a post-budget TV interview may have revealed that the debate has moved beyond whether to permit FDI in multi-brand retailing—the lifeline of small- and medium-sized neighbourhood stores....