In 2010, subject to government approvals, Indian farmers will seed their fields with transgenic brinjals—brinjals with a genetic variant that, courtesy Monsanty-Mahyco Ltd and a clutch of agricultural universities, protect them from insects. But 14 years ago, Polumetla Ananda Kumar successfully planted the first Indian transgenic brinjals in a field in west Delhi. Then he promptly burnt the entire crop to the ground. Kumar, head of the National Plant Biotechnology Centre at...

Copenhagen showed how fast and far India has traveled geo-politically. The same, alas, cannot be said about the health of the nation. On the international stage, India’s relentless focus on equity made us proud. The time has come to apply that principle at home. India’s ailing health delivery system is viewed as a worthy but dull topic on a normal day in a typical newsroom in the country. Typically, such neglected...

“Much more needs to be done to improve the living standards of the poor”  The decline in poverty has not been as fast as one would have wished and it remains a major challenge before the country because the poor are still too poor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday. Inaugurating the 92nd conference of the Indian Economic Association (IEA) at KIIT University here, Dr. Singh said much more...

The following piece was written for the UNIDO’s General Conference that took place in Vienna this month but could not be carried by any of the international papers because of a slight delay, although some feel its contents may not be ideologically palatable to them. Hence it is being carried here for the benefit of our readers. —Editor A highly positive sum game awaits the community of nations if an internationally...

Minutes before curtains were drawn on state legislature's winter session, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan announced a Rs 10,000 crore package for Vidarbha. "This a time-bound programme for all-round development of the region and will be implemented in three years," said Chavan assuring the house that he would personally monitor it in co-ordination with the chief secretary. A quick analysis of the package, however, showed it was a re-jig of ongoing...