-Outlook The aim of achieving food security across the globe will become increasingly elusive unless countries take into account the planet's nature-based services into agricultural and related planning, said a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme today. Safeguarding the underlying ecological foundations that support food production, including biodiversity will be central if the world is to feed the seven billion people, climbing to over nine billion by 2050, according to...

-Outlook Hyderabad: India could win 105 claims on international patents due to its Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here today, opening the high-level segment meeting at the Conference of Parties to Convention on Biological Diversity. "We decided to build this knowledge database because of the patent on the use of neem extract in Europe and another patent on the use of turmeric as a healing agent. Since...

-The Hindu ‘Vision document mooted to designate them as ‘separate urban natural resources’ The Urban Development Ministry has constituted a working group to suggest ways to preserve water bodies. Rapid disappearance of water bodies from the urban landscape has sounded an alarm vis-à-vis water shortfall and has also put a considerable strain on States’ spending to meet the demand for water. A case in point is Bangalore. Despite having a Lake Development Authority that...

-The Indian Express Hyderabad: Abdul Razak alias Mansoor, who police say was a Lashkar-e-Toiba member, committed suicide last Wednesday. His family intends to approach the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission, saying harassment by police drove Razak to kill himself. Razak was an accused in the November 2002 blast at Sai Baba temple in Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad that killed two persons and injured three. He was also named in the FIRs filed in...

-The Times of India The Centre has advised Naxal-hit states not to release hardened Maoist fighters as part of swap deals with red ultras, who have increasingly been using high-profile abductions to further their subversive activities. However, it has said that negotiations and low-value releases can be considered for the safety and release of hostages. The draft hostage policy, which will be discussed at a meeting of chief secretaries/DGPs of nine Naxalism-affected...