Feature Article

Two decisions taken by the Government of West Bengal, one, to facilitate easier extraction of groundwater, and the other, the application of a fi xed connection fee for an electricity connection to farmers could well lead to a quantum leap in agricultural production.

Eleven state governments have enacted Right-to-Public-Services laws in the last couple of years without any pressure from the centre. All except one of these states are in the Hindi heartland which is known for its fractured polity. These enactments are perhaps an attempt to regain the faith of the middle class in the political and bureaucratic system. While there are limitations in their conceptualisation and implementation, the enthusiasm of the respective state bureaucracies in pushing for these laws is encouraging.

There is not enough reserve water inside the Koodankulam nuclear power plants complex for cooling the reactor cores and the spent fuel pools.

Agni-V is no cause for celebration; a caring society would instead be worried about where India is heading. (Editorial)

The objective of the study was to assess the effects of feeding Bt MON810 maize to pigs for 110 days on the intestinal microbiota.

An engineered influenza virus based on a haemagglutinin protein from H5N1 avian influenza, with just four mutations, can be transmitted between ferrets, emphasizing the potential for a human pandemic to emerge from birds.

Highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza A viruses occasionally infect humans, but currently do not transmit efficiently among humans. The viral haemagglutinin (HA) protein is a known host-range determinant as it mediates virus binding to host-specific cellular receptors1, 2, 3. Here we assess the molecular changes in HA that would allow a virus possessing subtype H5 HA to be transmissible among mammals.

Premature birth is the biggest cause of infant mortality worldwide, yet most of those deaths could be readily prevented, according to a 2 May report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and child-health advocacy groups. The report summarizes the results of a comprehensive survey of the problem, and says that pre-term births are on the rise —a worrying trend — but that low-income countries could reduce deaths among these infants by introducing a few affordable key health-care practices.

The sound of chainsaws in the Amazon rainforest has faded in recent years as deforestation has slowed, last year dropping to less than one-third of its long-term average. But last week, the lower house of Brazil’s
National Congress passed a bill that observers say could drastically reduce forest protection.