Days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke of the role of foreign-funded NGOs in instigating protests against genetic engineering in agriculture, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has asserted that his controversial decision to put the release of genetically-modified brinjal on indefinite hold in 2010 was not influenced by any NGO.   As the then environment minister, Jairam had blocked the commercial release of Bt brinjal, citing a lack of scientific consensus and...

-PTI Social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Saturday said that 2014 would be "the year of change". Inaugurating the 'National Youth Integration Camp' organised by Snehalaya and National Youth Project, Hazare said, "Mentality of the Indian youth is changing rapidly, and the year 2014 would be the year of change. If the youth resolve, they can change the system." The next general elections are due on 2014. The anti-corruption crusader, who...

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is likely to run into a debate on public health policy after the Planning Commission moved to nix a proposal to include healthcare in the list of public entitlements such as education and food. Central to the proposal—initiated by a high-level expert group (HLEG) headed by K. Srinath Reddy, a leading advocate of preventive cardiology and president of the Public Health Foundation of India—was the...

There are two serious points of disagreement in the reports of the SIT and the amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran. THE Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate, M.S. Bhatt, on February 15, rejected pleas seeking copies of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team's (SIT) report on the 2002 Gujarat carnage until March 15 on a technicality – that the SIT needs more time to submit its full report along with all documents, evidence and other...

Faulty procurement, rising farm inputs force West Bengal farmers to commit suicide LONG known as farmer friendly, West Bengal is now making headlines for farmers’ suicides. Reportedly 31 farmers, including landless farm labourers and small traders of agriculture produce, in the state took their lives between October last year and January. Twenty-one of the 31 deaths are from the state’s rice bowl Burdwan district. And this is probably a reason the spate...