Joseph Munyi, a Kenyan citizen, has been living with HIV for 8 years and, much like other HIV patients, is unemployed. He has been receiving his medication free of charge on account of government programmes and outreach programmes of Medicine Sans Frontieres. His medication comes in the form of generic drugs. However, this situation may not last long as economic interests of few may end up impeding many a public spirited...

The 28th of May, marked as “World Hunger Day,” has come and gone but for Pannu Bai Bhil, every day is hunger day. How does someone dealing with chronic hunger view a day marking her plight? Let those of us who overeat at least take stock of a hungry India pitted against bumper crops, number crunching, technologies for profit, markets, and growth rates. The solution for hunger lies in proper...

-The United Nations The number of people with high blood pressure and diabetes is drastically increasing in both developed and developing countries, according to a United Nations report released today. “This report is further evidence of the dramatic increase in the conditions that trigger heart disease and other chronic illnesses, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,” said the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan. “In some African countries, as...

Veteran agricultural scientist and alumnus of Harvard and Berkeley Universities, Dr Peter Kenmore was in Mumbai for NABARD’s 30th anniversary lecture on ‘Future of Global Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities for India.’ This United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization India representative spoke to Yogesh Pawar on the current scenario in agriculture. Some excerpts: There’s a lot of churn over GM technology in India. At a time when the country is grappling with...

-The Times of India   The RTE Act is an opportunity to break gender, caste, class and community barriers that threaten to damage the social fabric of our democracy and create fissures that could be ruinous to the country, writes Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal. The Supreme Court judgment upholding the constitutional validity of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act has once again focused public attention on education....