-PTI Monsoons 31% below average up to July 2 The deficient rainfall during last month has affected the sowing of coarse cereals but there is no cause for worry for the paddy crop, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said. The monsoon rains have been 31% below average up to July 2, Pawar told reporters here. He said the rainfall deficiency has affected sowing of coarse cereals, but situation in paddy is "not worrisome". Till June...

Regulations covering public health should override personal rights and the country cannot wait any more for a good public health law. The health care industry, including institutions of medical education, hospitals and pharmaceutical businesses, have grown into behemoths that can do considerable harm in the absence of independent and effective regulatory systems. While there are no success stories in the regulation of any kind of industry in India, I will focus...

-Live Mint Almost all of us have, through the unfortunate experience of a relative, an acquaintance or a friend, been exposed to the trauma of suicide; personally I have been associated with such an experience thrice. This unnatural and often violent form of death left me confounded (I never saw it coming) and hugely frustrated (at the loss that could have been prevented with timely help). For more than a decade, the...

Punjab’s agricultural sector grew at 1.6 per cent during the 11th Plan against the national average of 3.41 per cent. The Growth is tardy owing to near saturation in productivity. The rural debts in Punjab are estimated to be Rs 35,000 crore. The number of indebted rural households in Punjab is 66 per cent, third highest in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Government of India’s debt...

-The Hindu This year, not only did the monsoon reach India a few days late but its progress thereafter has been alarmingly lackadaisical. While Assam has been deluged and is reeling from the resulting floods, over 85 per cent of the country is suffering from far too little rain. The result is that the nationwide rainfall deficit stood at a grim 29 per cent at the end of June. Rainfall data...