Feature Article

English libel law was used to threaten me, but I had to speak out, says Peter Wilmshurst, the cardiologist sued for voicing safety concerns.

This article examines the National Sample Survey Organisation unit record data pertaining to debt and investment (59th round) and highlights inequality in access to credit by certain segments of society. In particular, it shows that weaker sections such as female-headed households have a much lower access than their male counterpart even when they are involved in similar economic activities and consequently face significantly higher rates of interest.

The supporters of liberalisation often argue that if the modern food retail sector is allowed a full round of liberalisation, it may have various positive outcomes, including a reduction in prices. This article raises a counter question, what if the markets, as it happens in several instances, fail to deliver on account of the structural snags that may continue to persist in a rapidly growing and yet highly segmented economy?

A critique of the draft food security bill, and a brief outline of what any such bill must, at the very least, incorporate.

A World Health Organisation research centre which has reviewed hundreds of studies on the health effects of mobile phone use has decided to classify the radio frequency electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones as “possibly carcinogenic”. This classification says more about the quality of the evidence available from studies, rather than about whether radio frequency electromagnetic fields increase the risk of cancer. In plain language, the WHO centre’s answer to whether mobile phone usage poses a cancer risk is that it might but we do not know enough about it as yet.