for andhra farmers: The government has formed a 13-member commission to examine the agricultural system of Andhra Pradesh and formulate an action plan to strengthen it so that the high rate of suicides by farmers can be checked. The state's agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy said the commission will also suggest modalities for a proposed agriculture technology mission, to be headed by the state's chief minister. The mission would be a permanent mechanism to deal with agricultural issues. The commission, headed by eminent economist Jayati Ghosh, would submit its report to the government within two months.
hiv fear: A serious threat of HIV spread looms over Tripura, warns a recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Almost 280 blood donors in the state have been found to be HIV-positive, indicating that the blood in the blood banks could be infected. "Appropriate methods of testing are not followed and so blood supplied from blood banks is not considered fully safe against HIV infection," the report says. Only the donors who ask about the results of their blood tests are informed about them. As such, many donors were ignorant about their infection and might have contributed to the spread of the virus unwittingly.
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