-The Hindu     The State population stands at a little over three crore, but average consumption of drugs is three times the national average In Kerala, where people have a marked preference for branded drugs, where the most expensive brand is considered the best, and only those brands pushed by doctors sell, the new Drug (Prices Control) Order, which is expected to cut prices by 20-25 per cent, may not have much of...

-Frontline Professor Sukhpal Singh, a faculty member of the Centre for Management of Agriculture at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has been researching and documenting the process of contract farming and food supply chains in India for more than a decade. He is of the view that the small farmer is being excluded in the method currently in place, which defeats the very purpose of improving Indian agriculture. Sukhpal Singh,...

-The Hindu The hostility to the UPA's food security Bill from both its allies and the Opposition stems not from substantial objections to the draft law itself but from other political grouses The decision to bring an ordinance to provide food security to 67 per cent of the country's population was received with much hostility by the Opposition parties last week. The latter seemed surprised that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could...

-The Business Standard Clause empowers both Central and state govts from their obligation to provide subsidised food in the event of war, flood, drought, fire, cyclone or earthquake The government included much-debated 'force majeure' clause in the Food Security Ordinance, despite opposition from civil socieity and a Parliamentary standing committee. However, the clause can now only be invoked if the Central government in consultation with the Planning Commission decides as to whether such...

-The Hindu There has to be a national mission to ensure that rural homes have access to clean cooking fuel and stoves instead of the killer chulhas that are claiming the lives of large numbers of women A large section of our country's population, nearly 75 per cent of rural and 22 per cent of urban households, still uses biomass for daily cooking. An estimated 80 per cent of the residential energy...