Maize Mania
Maize has become the queen of cereals, courted by state governments, seed companies, farmers and the feedstock and starch industries as the crop …
Heading towards a cliff
As India elects new government, the 12th Five Year Plan may no longer be pro-poor
Ponty, buses and PPPs
Letters
‘Forest department is the encroacher’
When V Kishore Chandra Deo became the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs three months ago, both the ministries were in inertia.…
Biotech industry has a new patron
Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push biotech research in agriculture
Coal toll
More than 70 per cent of India's electricity is produced by coal-fired power plants. Most of them do not have modern technologies and use low-…
Science under siege
Agricultural science has ossified in India. Despite a vast network of public research institutions and agriculture universities across the country,…
Universal health scare
The country’s planners are debating how to provide healthcare to all. In a drastic shift from the 65-year-old public health system, the …
Coal quandary
In a sweeping pronouncement, the Supreme Court has termed all the 218 coal blocks allocated since 1993 illegal. This has raised a fundamental …