-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government has decided to make it mandatory for over 5,000 scientists, working in different central agencies including the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to undertake 12 hours of lecture classes in an academic year in public-funded schools and colleges across the country. Announcing the decision, Union science and technology minister Jitendra Singh said it would be "mandatory" for the scientists to formally take...

-The United Nations More than 800,000 people commit suicide every year - around one person every 40 seconds - according to the United Nations health agency's first global report on suicide prevention, which was published today. "This report is a call for action to address a large public health problem which has been shrouded in taboo for far too long," said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). The report...

-PTI Limiting access to pesticides and firearms, among the most common methods of suicide globally, can help reduce the number of people taking their own lives, according to a latest WHO report. More than 800,000 people die by suicide every year, according to WHO's first global report on suicide prevention, which found that pesticide poisoning, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Evidence from Australia, Canada, japan, New...

The Business Standard The Planning Commission has not been central to the policymaking process since the mid-1960s In his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the end of the Planning Commission. There will be few mourners at its funeral, mainly old war horses like me. So this is in the nature of an obituary for an institution in which I served for a decade and a half, and where I...

-PTI UN body for development of agriculture IFAD today said small-holder farmers should be the starting point for sustainable development. Speaking at the 8th TAAS (Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences) foundation lecture, IFAD President, Kanayo Nwanze said, "... We see time and time again the transformation that occurs when development is sustainable and when local people are involved from the start...Our starting point for sustainable agricultural development must be small-holder farmers." Nwanze,...