-The Economic Times The government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) for the kharif season in a range of 16% to 53% to motivate farmers and compensate for higher input costs but the higher purchase prices could stoke food inflation further.  The Committee on Economic Affairs ( CCEA) on Thursday raised the MSP of paddy by Rs 170 per quintal and those of oilseeds like groundnut, sunflower seed and niger seed...

Science and technology hold the key to developing low-input, high-output agriculture. The challenge is to use new technologies creatively and to make evidence-based decisions on the deployment of new technologies. Crop breeding is carried out to meet two broad objectives: one, to increase yields of a crop per se and, two, to protect the yield potential by developing crops resistant to diseases, pests and environmental extremes.  Both yield-enhancement and yield-stabilisation are...

-Down to Earth WHO agency says there is compelling evidence to classify diesel fumes as deadly carcinogen along with tobacco, asbestos The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization, gives its scientific verdict that diesel engine exhaust can cause lung cancer in humans. In its report released on June 12, IARC has reclassified diesel exhaust from its group 2A list of probable carcinogens to its...

-The Economic Times   Pushed to the wall by an overly cautious drug regulator and an alarmist Indian government, clinical trial companies are looking at South East Asian countries to expand their business and escape the red tape of Indian authorities.  Clinical Research companies (CROs), that were aspiring to become billion- dollar companies by 2010, had to rework their plans after a Parliamentary Standing Committee report questioned the allegedly unfair and unethical trials...

-The United Nations More than a decade after it was classified as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans,’ the UN health agency today classified diesel engine exhaust as ‘carcinogenic to humans.’   The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced the re-classification today, after a week-long meeting of international experts, and based its decision on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk...