K.N. Raj, widely respected development economist and teacher and one of the architects of the Indian Plan edifice, passed away here on Wednesday. He was 85. Dr. Raj — who was the economic adviser to Prime Ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to P.V. Narasimha Rao, and set the pace of India’s economic growth story from the First Five-Year Plan — had been keeping indifferent health for some time. He was admitted to...

In April last year, the Supreme Court, in response to a public interest litigation filed by the Gene Campaign (whose convenor is the internationally known geneticist Dr Suman Sahai), directed the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to consider the toxicity and allergenicity of GM crops and to post the relevant material on the web so that independent experts could examine these. The Supreme Court asked the GEAC to study also...

Another food crisis? This time it’s not shortages but prices—a plain failure of responsive policy and execution. Zooming food prices are raising political temperatures yet again. The rumblings, for once, are not merely restricted to the opposition parties, but evident within the ruling coalition as well. Though attacks from across the political spectrum have become a bit subdued of late, the target remains Union agriculture and food minister Sharad Pawar. And...

The nationwide public consultations on commercialisation of Bt brinjal concluded here on Saturday amid chaos and deep divisions among stakeholders over the acceptability of genetically modified food crops. Disclosure of details of a gazette notification that has kept 190 plant species, including brinjal, out of the purview of the Biological Diversity Act added to the controversy. The exercise, which witnessed frequent disruptions by both pro and anti-GM technology groups, saw tempers...

When Gadchiroli Collector Atul Patne and his predecessor Niranjankumar Sudhanshu accept a special medal from Prime Minister manmohan singh tomorrow in New Delhi for their NREGA performance, they will rebut a widely held belief that good government work can't be done in Naxal-affected areas, a belief that's often used as an alibi for inaction. Gadchiroli, which became the biggest hotspot in the Red Corridor in 2009 with three police ambushes...