'We want to pressure the government and assert our rights as citizens.' Arvind Kejriwal received the Magsaysay award in the Emergent leadership category in 2006. A mere five years later, he has far surpassed that milestone, winning acclaim and notice for the way he conceived and crafted Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. He talks to Vidya Subrahmaniam about the Jan Lokpal campaign, what it accomplished and why it often became controversial. The scale...

-The Business Standard   The poor progress made by states in stemming the declining sex ratio (of the number of girls in the 0-6 age group for every 1,000 boys) in the country has prompted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to write to the 28 state chief ministers on the issue. The recent census showed a decline in states which had earlier not reported one. This had prompted a high-level meeting in the Prime...

-PTI   The centre is examining the proposed scheme for direct disbursement of food subsidies in cash, instead of foodgrains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), as demanded by some states. The final contours of the scheme will be worked out in consultation with concerned agencies like the ministry of finance (department of expenditure) and planning commission, food and consumer affairs minister K. V. Thomas has said. The governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana...

India’s new vaccination policy stresses increased domestic research and surveillance on local diseases; but has drawn criticism for endorsing new vaccines in the national immunisation programme without ascertaining need. The April 2011 policy, made public by India’s ministry of health and family welfare in August, provides guidelines for vaccine research and development; strengthening the evidence base for new vaccine introduction and regulation and patent issues. It highlights lack of indigenous baseline surveillance...

-The Economic Times   The Union cabinet is likely to clear the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 next week and it is likely to be tabled in Parliament in the ongoing monsoon session itself. Minister of rural development Jairam Ramesh met with nine cabinet ministers on Thursday to finalise the contents of the draft bill. These include finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram, minister for tribal affairs Kishore Chand...