-The Tribune US spearheading move to force developing countries to open up to imports The US filed a fresh complaint against India at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last week. In its submission, the US sought withdrawal of India’s import restrictions on genetically modified (GM) foods, including rice and apples. It said the demand for a non-GM certificate was disrupting American agricultural exports. This comes at a time when for no apparent...

-The Hindu Not only are key nutrition schemes underfunded but even what is available is not being spent effectively The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022 has brought more unwelcome news for India, as far as its global ranking on a vital indicator of human development is concerned. India ranked 107 out of 121 countries. The Government of India attempted to discredit the index immediately in its attempt to deny the findings of...

-Hindustan Times The World Bank should ensure “greater transparency and accountability” while factoring in subjective opinion-based indices as inputs for its World Governance Indicators (WGI) that has significant weightage in sovereign ratings, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) said in a series of tweets citing an internal working paper, and called for independent Indian think tanks to bring out similar perception-based indices for the world in order to...

-Hindustan Times WHO will be updating the list of priority pathogens—agents that can cause outbreaks or pandemics—to guide global investment, research and development, especially in vaccines, tests and treatments, the UN health body announced. India is working on a plan to effectively combat public health emergencies and disease outbreaks in future, according to people familiar with the matter, even as WHO on Monday announced it will be identifying pathogens that could cause...

-Hindustan Times In their plea, former bureaucrats MG Devasahayam, Somasundar Burra, and Aditi Mehta referred to the Registration of Electors Rules that allow the Registration Officer to entertain any objection, hold a summary inquiry and rectify any errors without hearing or notifying the affected party. The Supreme Court has directed the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond in four weeks to public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the rule...