Beware, your daily glass of good health could actually be doing you harm. As much as 70% of milk samples picked up from the capital by a government agency failed to conform to standards. Of the 71 samples randomly taken from Delhi for testing by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), 50 were found to be contaminated with glucose and skim milk powder (SMP), which is usually added to...

It is official now. Indians are consuming adulterated milk containing detergent which not only has a very less nutritious value but is also health hazardous, a recent Government survey has revealed. In its first-ever national survey on milk adulteration 2011, the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) found that of the total 1,791 samples tested throughout the country, at least over 68 per cent i.e. 1,226 samples were either diluted...

She has spent considerable time researching female infanticide. Sharada Srinivasan talks about why elimination of the girl child is prevalent all over the country. Daughter elimination is very much prevalent in Tamil Nadu even if not as intense as in other parts of the country. Sharada Srinivasan, assistant professor in International Development Studies at York University Toronto, has spent a considerable amount of time researching this subject. Her book Daughter Deficit:...

ICAR, agricultural universities and state agriculture departments issue advisories, alerts Agriculture departments in northern Indian states have been put on high alert following the appearance of yellow rust disease in wheat crops in parts of Ropar district in Punjab and Una district in Himachal Pradesh. Yellow rust is a fungal disease which manifests as powdery yellow stripes on leaves. These stripes hinder photosynthesis, make the grains shrivel and stunt growth of the...

India's forest cover has declined by 367 sq km between 2007 and 2009. While the figure may not seem alarming, it runs counter to the impression that afforestation and conservation programmes are yielding results. The largest dip in forest cover was in the northeast which lost 550 sq km. This loss was very partially made up elsewhere, even as there was an overall negative growth in green cover. There was better...