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The genetic revolution is well and truly underway in Indian agriculture with proposals for at least 5 crops before the Centre’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee While controversy has dogged the environmental release of genetically engineered (GE) mustard, other GE crops are being prepped at institutes across the country. Among these …

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in a report flagged the “inhuman and deplorable” condition of all 46 government-run mental healthcare institutions across the country. The report notes that the facilities are “illegally” keeping patients long after their recovery, in what is an “infringement of the human rights of mentally …

Somanchi, Anmol, ‘Food and Social Security at the Margins: The Parhaiyas of Jharkhand’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 58, Issue 4, January 28, 2023. While many government policies and schemes have been announced across the country to help vulnerable communities, it is imperative to look at the extent to which …

On February 3, the Union government hiked the windfall profit tax levied on domestically-produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Just three days before this, the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs Vivek Johri, told PTI that prices of …

Second Advance Estimates of production of major crops for agricultural year 2022-23 have been released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that foodgrain production of 3235.54 Lakh Tonnes is estimated in the current agricultural year. …

Microsoft has thrown down the gauntlet to Google with its $10 billion check to OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research firm behind ChatGPT and DALL-E. The investment is targeted at packing AI capabilities into Microsoft’s search, software and cloud systems over the next few years. And, at the top of that …

News of the discovery of “5.9 million tonnes inferred resources of lithium” in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district, Jammu & Kashmir, by the Geological Survey of India has been received as a game-changer in India’s impending transition to a green economy. The term ‘inferred’ refers to the ‘preliminary exploration …

On February 6, when the disaster struck, three truckloads of relief material consisting of life-saving emergency medicines and protective items were arranged at the Hindon airbase within 12 hours. The consignment consisted of 5,945 tonnes of emergency relief material which included 27 life-saving medicines, two kinds of protective items and …

The normally peaceful residents of Ladakh are in agitation mode. They are set to gather in Delhi today to pursue their demand for special constitutional status, which would allow them to decide on a development path that safeguards the region’s fragile ecological and cultural heritage. On January 26, one of …

The estimation in Census 2011, that 2.21% of India’s population is disabled is a gross underestimation. According to the World Health Organization, about 16% of the global population is disabled. If that figure is extrapolated to the Indian context, it would mean at least 192 million disabled people. While technology …