-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India runs the risk of a severe shortage of medicines because of its over dependence on China for sourcing raw material for drugs, national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval has warned, TOI has learnt. According to the NSA, India should take immediate concrete steps to create adequate infrastructure to become self-sufficient for manufacturing medicines which are essential in nature. "The national security adviser had highlighted concerns related...

There is some good news amid gloom! Preliminary findings of a survey in India as quoted by the Global Nutrition Report 2014 shows that prevalence of malnutrition among children aged below 5 years has come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14, even though we have a long way to go. (See links and bullet points below). The survey on malnutrition and hunger, called the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), was conducted after...

-The Indian Express India seems relieved, having convinced the United States to advocate on its behalf at the WTO regarding the issues arising from its food security programmes, while food-exporting nations are rejoicing at New Delhi signing on the dotted line without insisting on a reduction of farm support in developed countries. As we defend public procurement and stock holding, they will be looking at opportunities to export to India high-value...

-The New Indian Express   BHUBANESWAR: Effective leveraging of agriculture is the key to ensuring food and nutrition security. This can be achieved by taking steps to ensure that technological intervention in farms is done with agreement of farmers. This was one of the key points made by a panel of experts at a forum on ‘Farming System for Nutrition (FSN) initiative in Koraput', conducted by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here on...

-Economic and Political Weekly The current regime seeks to reform labour laws with the understanding that these reforms will improve industrial growth and expand the possibilities of enterprise. However, there is already ample evidence from within India that this obsession with reforming labour law, particularly in the way the government has done it till now, will not take us any closer in creating more jobs or a healthy industrial sector. These...