Spiralling prices of pulses have shown India’s dependence on imports. Pulses are integral to India’s diet but not its food policy. As a result, supply cannot meet demand. What are the consequences and solutions? Surendra Nath has switched to eating grass-pea, though he knows it is not good for health. But so is tobacco, he argues. He cannot do without pulses and pigeon-pea selling at Rs 100 a kg is beyond...

Nine years after the state’s creation, the cabinet today decided to set up a human rights commission in Jharkhand. The modalities to make the body functional is expected to be worked out soon. Principal secretary, cabinet co-ordination, Aditya Swaroop said according to the Human Rights Protection Act of 1993, all states ought to have a human rights commission. Such commissions are already in existence in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,...

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said a survey would be conducted to know the exact number of nomad community people residing in the state, with efforts to settle them permanently. Kumar called upon the 'nomad' community members at a public meeting to take advantage of measures by the state government to improve their lot and implored them to learn the 3 R's (basic literacy) so that they could know...

When the government passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, it should have added a statutory warning: exercising this right may be extremely injurious to health. Shashidhar Mishra of Begusarai, who was murdered by unknown assailants last Sunday, is the second RTI activist to be killed in a month for perhaps knowing too much. Attacks on RTI activists have emerged as a disturbing trend of late, especially in...

The study was conducted in six States and is based on interviews of over 51,000 individuals  Findings also underscore the limited awareness on most sexual and reproductive matters Leading sources of information on sexual matters were friends and the media Less than one in three women know that a condom can be used just once, and just one in six know that a condom cannot disappear into a woman’s body. These are...