-The Hindu Business Line   Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (The more things change the more they remain the same ): A French proverb. In its earnest to tackle rising food inflation the new Government has taken a welcome initiative to delist fruits/ vegetables including onions (FVO) from the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, while all other measures are as usual - short term of political expediency, repeated several...

-The Times of India     Attempt to muzzle newspapers by withdrawing advertising for critical news coverage A new report by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN) has strongly condemned "soft censorship" by governments and regulators as a "very serious threat to media independence and the very viability of media companies". WAN, which is the umbrella organization of newspapers representing more than 18,000 publications and 15,000 online sites in 120 countries...

-The Hindu   That over 27 per cent of tobacco consumers in India fall in the 15-24 year age bracket amply demonstrates how successful the tobacco companies have been in continually enticing the vulnerable sections of the population into the suicidal practice. The addition of new customers every year even as thousands of patrons die annually ensures that the tobacco companies' customer base remains wide and tall. If the global tobacco-related mortality...

-The Times of India   AHMEDABAD: Consumers are having a grand time gobbling up succulent mangoes. Not just because of the fall in wholesale market price, but also because now some enterprising farmers in Saurashtra are bypassing market yards and taking their produce directly to the consumer by selling them at the roadside. Farmers say that not only do they get low prices in the market yard, but are also forced to pay...

-BBC   Forced labour generates illegal profits of at least $150bn (£90bn; 110bn euros) a year, a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) says. The profits are far higher than previous estimates and the ILO wants governments to tackle the problem. Some 21 million people worldwide are in forced labour, it says, with migrant workers most vulnerable. Over half of all forced labourers work in Asia, with 18% in Africa and almost 10% in...