Soon Indian consumers will have the opportunity to know whether the packaged food that they are buying contains genetically modified organisms. But will that help? In India, where a majority of food is unprocessed and non-packaged, labeling on packaged food may hardly cover the huge populations' right to choose. A gazette notification issued by the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution early this month says that every food package...

-The Times of India PHAGWARA: Dalit residents of Mahan Singh Wala village in Sangrur district working as farm labourers have approached the Punjab ScheduLED Caste Commission after jats not only passed a resolution imposing wages for various menial jobs but also warned them of social boycott if the rules are breached. The resolution, which reeks of caste-based discrimination, has been passed under the name of the village panchayat. Pamphlets spelling out the...

-The Times of India Sitamarhi (Bihar): The Sitamarhi district administration on Sunday prevaiLED upon Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and persuaded him not to venture into Naxal-dominated areas.  The minister wanted to visit a village for verification of rural development work there.  LED by the SP, the district administration asked the minister not to go to Giddha gram panchayat under Runnisaidpur block, 35km from the district headquarters. "We have received reports that...

-The Indian Express Only the names of the patients have changed. Acute encephalitis syndrome is back in Bihar, hitting the same districts as every year, its victims once again mostly children of Mahadalit communities living in various degrees of poverty, their resistance levels lowered by malnutrition and exposure to heat. And the government response has been repetitive to the point of being ritualistic. It has asked for Central assistance and set up...

-The Hindustan Times A social activist and Congress worker was shot dead allegedly by an inspector when he was trying to draw the policeman’s attention to rampant corruption in the public distribution system (PDS). Ambika Prasad Dubey, 40, was shot in the chest and stomach at point-blank range after Dubey and some locals stopped a vehicle carrying PDS grain in Jhilpani village, 60 km from district headquarter Narsingpur, late Saturday. Villagers said...